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By improving access to environmental data that informs building design, codes, and standards, the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is building resilience for a prosperous future.

Construction, both private and public, was valued at $2.2 trillion in 2024 – all of it impacted by weather and climate. Extreme weather events such as flooding, high wind, and extreme temperatures can degrade building materials, threaten the safety of critical infrastructure, and cause significant damage or destruction to facilities.

An asphalt highway with electronic toll gates in autumn woodland. Three trucks are on the road and the bridge spanning the valley view from above. It is a sunny day with bright fall colors.

Most infrastructure investments are built to last for decades– more than 97% of the dams managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are over 30 years old. Architects and engineers rely on accurate, timely, and future-facing climate and weather data to ensure buildings and infrastructure are designed to withstand not just the environmental conditions of today, but the weather of tomorrow. 

NOAA is working with the architecture and engineering sector, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Institute of Architects (AIA), to accelerate the development of weather-informed engineering codes and standards and equip the industry to build and design climate-resilient infrastructure.

Our Goal

By improving access to and the functionality of its informational products and services, NCEI aims to connect architects and engineers with the environmental information needed to design data-driven building codes and standards, creating more efficient and weather-ready designs for a future with safer communities and a stronger economy.


Data-Driven Impacts for Architecture and Engineering

The architecture and engineering sector needs contextual, downscaled, current, and future projected environmental data to build infrastructure that is resilient to extreme weather.

Weather and climate data inform every stage of infrastructure, from the initial designs to demolition. Architects use climate and weather data when they design buildings to make them energy- and cost-efficient, taking into account data such as humidity, wind, precipitation, and solar irradiance. 

Engineers make building material and design decisions by referring to codes and standards that are set based on NOAA’s climate and weather data, including potential snow load, wind speed, extreme temperatures, and flooding. All of these decisions ensure that the infrastructure is built to withstand both normal and extreme weather while minimizing maintenance costs.

"Every building in America is built from wood, concrete, steel, and NOAA data."

Deke Arndt
Director, National Centers for Environmental Information

Through workshops and working group discussions, NOAA is working with engineers and architects to develop customized, forward-looking tools and datasets that enable the industry to more accurately account for current and future weather and climate conditions in their building designs. NOAA is developing a variety of tools that address specific technical needs stakeholders have shared, including:

A Typical Meteorological Year product that provides current and future “typical” weather information for a given area to support architects’ energy-related design decisions.

A high-impact Precipitation Time Series Explorer tool is a new interface for the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor System data that provides quantifiable precipitation estimates for any given location in the U.S. both historically and in near real-time to better understand exceedance potential, frequency, and risk of extreme rainfall events over design criteria.

An innovative Icing product that will support architects’ and engineers’ efforts to mitigate or prevent the negative impacts of icing on structures.

Through its partnership with NOAA, the industry will be able to understand the current and future environmental conditions that will affect its infrastructure, enabling companies to make safe, resilient, and cost-efficient decisions in these significant investments.

Products

Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (BDD)

Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (BDD)

Period of record: 1980–2024

The BDD offers regional weather extremes for architecture and engineering and is responsible for tracking 400 historical weather and climate events from totalling $2.785 trillion in damages. By combining extreme weather and economic data, this product quantifies previous national disasters and provides risk metrics based on disaster exposure. The data covers hazards like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.
Credit: U.S. Army National Guard photo courtesy of SC-HART

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Climate Atlas

Climate Atlas

Period of record: 1895–Present

NOAA is combining U.S. Climate Atlas and U.S. Maps into one application that will provide access to a collection of customizable climatology maps as well as additional variables and functionality. Included datasets will be updated on an ongoing monthly basis. Architects and Engineers can utilize this collection of temperature, precipitation, and degree-day maps to assist with designing energy efficient buildings and climate appropriate infrastructure. This update is scheduled for the winter of 2025-2026.
Credit: Flickr, NOAA Photo Library

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Storm Events Database (SED)

Storm Events Database (SED)

Period of record: 1950–Present

The SED contains data from high-impact weather events used to guide the design of weather-resilient infrastructure. NOAA updated the SED to include interactive maps, event-specific details, and automated reporting for user needs. This update was released in the summer of 2025. 
Credit: NOAA Digital Collection, Sean Waugh

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Precipitation Time Series Explorer (PTE)

Precipitation Time Series Explorer (PTE)

Period of record: 1920–Present

The PTE tool will provide quantifiable precipitation estimates for any given location in the U.S. to better understand exceedance potential, frequency, and risk of extreme rainfall events. The raw data for this product is currently available. The first version of this tool will be released in early 2026. 
Credit: Flickr, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Typical Meteorological Year (TMY)

Typical Meteorological Year (TMY)

Period of record: 1998–2022

TMY features an interactive map that provides datasets of “typical” weather conditions for regions across the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). TMY is especially useful for evaluating climate impacts on building energy design. NOAA is advancing TMY to include a future analog component, using climate projections to predict “typical” conditions in a given area, which allows architects and engineers to better anticipate and plan for a weather-resilient future. This update is scheduled for release in winter 2025/2026. 
Credit: Pexels.com, Mitchell Henderson

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