Globally, more than 4.4 billion folk currently live in cities. Urbanization is very much a growing trend. A study, involving Bristol and Cardiff Universities, looked at the recent tendency of weather systems in cities to flip from dry to wet extremes or vice versa'. The analysis examined 100 of the most populous global cities (along with 12 'selected' cases). Ninety-five percent showed trends towards wetter or drier weather. Floods blocked access to clean, potable water and sanitation, as well as imperiling food supplies. Lucknow (India), Madrid (Spain) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) are undergoing major changes in their weather patterns (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/12/global-weirding-climate-whiplash-hitting-worlds-biggest-cities-study-reveals). Extreme weather events will make life more difficult for city folk in many locations. Adaptations to deal with these events will prove extremely costly. Obviously, coping with floods and droughts is much more difficult in poorer locations. Karachi and Khartoum are already especially badly hit by this 'weather whiplash'.
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