152.6.2 Extremes of the Hydrological Cycle

In Section 2.5 mean state changes in different aspects of the hydrological cycle are discussed. In this section we focus on the more extreme aspects of the cycle including extreme rainfall, severe local weather events like hail, flooding and droughts. Extreme events associated with tropical and extratropical storms are discussed in Sections 2.6.3 and 2.6.4 respectively.