00:00The world's biggest rainstorms are getting shorter, but more intense.
00:03A new study finds these storms deliver about half of all the rain that falls each year.
00:08Researchers at Beijing Normal University studied records for more than 19,000 rain gauges.
00:14The data covered 1980 to 2022.
00:18On average, half the world's rain fell during about nine multi-day storms.
00:22Those storms added up to roughly 28 days in total.
00:25Since 1980, an intense storm has shortened by about 86 minutes each decade.
00:30That cuts the time needed to deliver half the annual rainfall by just over 9.5 hours.
00:36The changes appear on every continent.
00:38Europe and South America show the strongest squeeze.
00:41There, the wettest storms shortened by as much as 144 minutes a decade.
00:46The study says the shift can change flood risk, drought risk, farm output, and wildfire risk.
00:52Disclosure.
00:53This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
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