“Late-stage” deforestation enhances storm trends in coastal West Africa

Significance Tropical deforestation tends to increase regional air temperatures, but its impacts on rainfall are more complex. The conventional picture, based largely on studies over Amazonia, is that storm frequency can increase over small, deforested areas but is reduced when the landscape is predominantly deforested. This study examines Southern West Africa, a coastal region that has little remaining intact forest. Here, the ongoing patchy deforestation increases the frequency of afternoon storms locally. Deforestation appears especially effective at triggering storms near the coast, where temperature-sensitive sea breezes dominate, and rapidly urbanizing populations are vulnerable to flood risk. Our results emphasize dynamical processes over moisture limitation and are highly relevant for many tropical deforestation hotspots, which, unlike Amazonia, are located near the coastline.