Across the United States, the number of severe rainfalls and heavy snows has grown significantly in the last half-century, with the greatest increases in New England and the Middle Atlantic region, according to a report released yesterday. Environment America, a national group that advocates new laws and policies to mitigate the effects of climate change, issued the report. The report, on the group’s Web site, environmentamerica.org, is an independent analysis of precipitation data from 1948 to 2006 that was vetted by two climate scientists. It shows that the number of downpours and heavy snows has increased by 22 percent to 26 percent across the country since 1948. Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont were among the states in which occurrences of severe precipitation have increased more than 50 percent, according to the report. In Oregon and Florida, however, the incidence of extreme rainfall dropped slightly, though in Florida the drop was not statistically significant.

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