A rain shower in Chapada dos Guimaraes, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

(JC Patricio/Getty Images)

At a Glance

The wettest single day of the year accounts for 8.3 percent of the year's total precipitation.By the turn of the century, the number of days will drop to 11 as a result of climate change.

Half the global annual precipitationfalls in just 12 days and that number will likely drop even further by the turn of the century, a new study says.

Extreme weather linked to a warming climate means that there is a "lopsided distribution of rain and snow" that falls in a very short period, according to a study published last monthin the journal.

The scientists came to their conclusions afteranalyzingdata collected at weather stations across the globe.

Angeline Pendergrass, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, the results surprised the entire team.

“I would have guessed the number would be larger — perhaps a month,” she said. “But when we looked at the median, or midpoint, from all the available observation stations, the number was just 12 days.”

The team also found that 75 percent of the world's precipitation falls in approximately a month's time, 12.5 percent of annual precipitation falls in just two days and the wettest single day of the year accounts for 8.3 percent of the year's total.

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Precipitation from extreme weather events will increase asthe climate warms further so that half of the globe's annual precipitationwill fall in just 11 days by the turn of the century.

“While climate models generally project just a small increase in rain in general, we find this increase comes as a handful of events with much more rain and, therefore, could result in more negative impacts, including flooding,” Angeline Pendergrass, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado,. “We need to take this into account when we think about how to prepare for the future.”

The findings, which suggest flooding and the damage associated with it could also increase, have implications for water managers, urban plannersand emergency responders, according to the press release.

The study also noted that the greatest amount of precipitation falling in the shortest amount of time tends to occurin dry, arid areas. "Wet" areas like thenortheastern United States had the evenest distribution of precipitation; while areas like China and Russia are somewhere in the middle.