Pollution linked to rainy summer days

GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Scientists said air pollution from humans may be linked to the trend of rainy summer weekdays in the southeastern United States.

Data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, known as TRMM, shows midweek storms tend to be stronger, drop more rain and span a larger area across the Southeast compared to calmer and drier weekends, the space agency said Friday in a release.

Thomas Bell, an atmospheric scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center, said the trend suggests a link between rain and atmospheric pollution from humans, which also peaks midweek.

"It appears that we're making storms more violent," Bell said in a statement.

The study was published online in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research.