Climate of the U.S.

Satellite view of the contiguous United States

The climate system within the United States varies by place and by time of year. Climate Normals define the climate of a place during a time of year. Other products help define climate trends and variability over time.

• Climate at a Glance
  This interactive tool provides historical information on precipitation and temperature for selected places, from cities to states to climate regions to the contiguous United States. A menu-driven system provides the history and trend for each place. Annual data can be further broken down by month and by season.
• Monthly U.S. Climate Reports
  Analyses of the Nation's recent climate conditions, their unusualness, and their long-term trends for many aspects of the climate system.
• Climate Normals
  Climate Normals are the latest three-decade averages of climatological variables, including temperature and precipitation. This product is produced once every 10 years. The current set of Normals is for the period 1981–2010.  
• U.S. Drought Portal
  The U.S. Drought Portal (USDP) is the public face of the U.S. National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the country’s Drought Early Warning System. It is a clearinghouse for U.S. drought information built in partnership between federal and state agencies, tribes, universities, and the private sector to help decision makers mitigate the negative impacts of drought. The USDP is hosted and managed at NCEI, and it provides access to a host of drought-related information, state mitigation plans, and regional hubs of activity intended as pilot projects to inform future collaboration.
• U.S. Wind Climatology
  This product provides wind climatology for the contiguous United States on a monthly basis from January 1950 to present. It uses the National Center for Environmental Prediction's reanalysis wind data chosen for its long period of record and its availability only a few days after the end of a month. This product provides information on the variability and trend of wind on a monthly basis and on a regional scale. It is not intended to assist on finer scales or in the diagnosis of the availability of wind resources at particular locations.
• U.S. Climate Atlas
  This tool allows users to view interactive maps of average monthly and annual minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and total precipitation. These maps use data between 1981 and 2010, commonly referred to as the 1981–2010 Normals. The Normals represent "average" or "typical" conditions one could expect at some location. In addition, monthly maps of minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and precipitation from 1895 through 2015 are available. There are several tools for animating maps and comparing pairs of maps. Downloading of the images is available on the site.