NOAA's 1981–2010 U.S. Climate Normals: An Overview

Anthony Arguez NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Anthony Arguez in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Imke Durre NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Imke Durre in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Scott Applequist NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Scott Applequist in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Russell S. Vose NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Russell S. Vose in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Michael F. Squires NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Michael F. Squires in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Xungang Yin STG, Inc., Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Xungang Yin in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Richard R. Heim Jr. NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Richard R. Heim Jr. in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
, and
Timothy W. Owen NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina

Search for other papers by Timothy W. Owen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the 1981–2010 U.S. Climate Normals in July 2011, representing the latest decadal installment of this long-standing product line. Climatic averages (and other statistics) of temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and numerous derived quantities were calculated for ~9,800 stations operated by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS). They include estimated normals, or “quasi normals,” for approximately 2,000 active short-record stations such as those in the U.S. Climate Reference Network. The 1981–2010 installment features several new products and methodological enhancements: 1) state-of-the-art temperature homogenization at the monthly scale, 2) extensive utilization of quality-controlled daily climate data, 3) new statistical approaches for calculating daily temperature normals and heating and cooling degree days, and 4) a comprehensive suite of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth statistics. This paper provides a general overview of this new suite of climate normals products.

*CURRENT AFILIATION: ERT, Inc., Asheville, North Carolina E-mail: anthony.arguez@noaa.gov

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Anthony Arguez, NOAA/NCDC, Room 506, 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the 1981–2010 U.S. Climate Normals in July 2011, representing the latest decadal installment of this long-standing product line. Climatic averages (and other statistics) of temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and numerous derived quantities were calculated for ~9,800 stations operated by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS). They include estimated normals, or “quasi normals,” for approximately 2,000 active short-record stations such as those in the U.S. Climate Reference Network. The 1981–2010 installment features several new products and methodological enhancements: 1) state-of-the-art temperature homogenization at the monthly scale, 2) extensive utilization of quality-controlled daily climate data, 3) new statistical approaches for calculating daily temperature normals and heating and cooling degree days, and 4) a comprehensive suite of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth statistics. This paper provides a general overview of this new suite of climate normals products.

*CURRENT AFILIATION: ERT, Inc., Asheville, North Carolina E-mail: anthony.arguez@noaa.gov

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Anthony Arguez, NOAA/NCDC, Room 506, 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801
Save
  • Applequist, S., A. Arguez, I. Durre, M. F. Squires, R. S. Vose, and X. Yin, 2012: 1981–2010 U.S. hourly normals. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 93, 16371640.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Arguez, A., and R. S. Vose, 2011: The definition of the standard WMO climate normal: The key to deriving alternative climate normals. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 92, 699704.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Durre, I., M. J. Menne, B. E. Gleason, T. G. Houston, and R. S. Vose, 2010: Comprehensive automated quality assurance of daily surface observations. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 49, 16151633.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Easterling, D. R., and T. C. Peterson, 1995: A new method for detecting undocumented discontinuities in climatological time series. Int. J. Climatol., 15, 369377.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Easterling, D. R., and M. F. Wehner, 2009: Is the climate warming or cooling? Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L08706, doi:10.1029/2009GL037810.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Heim, R. R., Jr., 1996: An overview of the 1961–90 climate normals products available from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. Preprints, 22nd Conf. on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 193196.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Heim, R. R., Jr., 1997: The 1961–1990 global standard climate normals. Preprints, 10th Conf. on Applied Climatology, Reno, NV, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 5861.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Menne, M. J., and C. N. Williams, Jr., 2009: Homogenization of temperature series via pairwise comparisons. J. Climate, 22, 17001717.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Menne, M. J., C. N. Williams Jr., and R. S. Vose, 2009: The U.S. Historical Climatology Network monthly temperature data, version 2. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 90, 9931007.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Menne, M. J., I. Durre, R. S. Vose, B. E. Gleason, and T. G. Houston, 2012: An overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network-daily database. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 29, 897910.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Owen, T. W., and T. Whitehurst, 2002: United States climate normals for the 1971–2000 period: Product descriptions and applications. Preprints, Third Symp. on Environmental Applications, Orlando, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc., J4.3. [Available online at https://ams.confex.com/ams/annual2002/techprogram/paper_26747.htm.]

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Peterson, T. C., and D. R. Easterling, 1994: Creation of homogeneous composite climatological reference series. Int. J. Climatol., 14, 671679.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Sun, B., and T. C. Peterson, 2005: Estimating temperature normals for USCRN stations. Int. J. Climatol., 25, 18091817.

  • Sun, B., and T. C. Peterson, 2006: Estimating precipitation normals for USCRN stations. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D09101, doi:10.1029/2005JD006245.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Thom, H. C. S., 1954: The rational relationship between heating degree days and temperature. Mon. Wea. Rev., 82, 16.

  • Thom, H. C. S., 1966: Normal degree days above any base by the universal truncation coefficient. Mon. Wea. Rev., 94, 461465.

  • WMO, 1983: Guide to climatological practices. 2nd ed. WMO-No. 100, 198 pp.

  • WMO, 1984: Technical regulations. Vol. 1. WMO Publ. 49, 5044 pp.

  • WMO, 1989: Calculation of monthly and annual 30-year standard normals. WCDP-10, WMO/TD-341, 12 pp.

  • WMO, 2007: The role of climatological normals in a changing climate. WCDMP-61, WMO/TD-1377, 43 pp.

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 0 0 0
Full Text Views 6113 1715 190
PDF Downloads 3268 587 63