From Google News

Global warming is likely to increase the risk of severe thunderstorms in the U.S., Stanford University research concluded.

New climate studies conducted by Stanford scientists show that global warming is likely to cause an increase in the kind of severe storms that have so far cost the U.S. billions of dollars, the Stanford Report said Tuesday, adding that in 2012 alone, 11 weather disasters had occurred.

"Sadly, we have many examples of cases where a single storm has had disastrous impact," Noah Diffenbaugh, the lead researcher an associated professor at the School of Earth Science at Stanford, said. "So a 25 or 30 percent increase in the annual occurrence represents a substantial increase in the overall risk."

Diffenbaugh said that the increase in severe thunderstorms that could lead to tornadoes, floods and dangerous winds can result in high economic losses.

While there is limited historical data that describes the atmospheric conditions that cause thunderstorms, scientists were able to use complex models that have helped produce comprehensive projections, according to the research.

Scientists identified two elements that were involved in generating severe thunderstorms. The first is known as convective available potential energy, which is created at low altitudes as air warms and carries moisture to higher altitudes.

The second element is a "strong vertical wind shear, (e)ssentially a moving wind current that organizes the atmospheric energy and moisture such that it can sustain a storm."

Researchers also said that storm days in the central U.S. in the next century could increase to by about two-and-half extra days per spring.