While many people associate global warming solely with hotter weather, there are two more trends that also merit attention: more rain, and more floods.

The United Nations Environment Program notes that higher temperatures increase the possibility for evaporation and thus more cloud formation. The air also can hold more moisture. The result: “An increase in precipitation intensity, duration and/or frequency.”

This could be particularly true in wintertime; storms earlier this year in the United Kingdom dumped a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours. Such a deluge prompted by higher temperatures means “record floods are not anomalous, they are the beginning of a new norm,” the U.N. warms. Areas around the world where flooding was a once-in-a-lifetime event will see water show up far more frequently. Read more >