North America

Extremes in both temperature and precipitation characterize October across the contiguous U.S.

NCEI has released an important new regional oceanographic climatology for the southwest North Atlantic region.

The September 2019 three-month summaries of climate impacts and outlooks are available for several regions and subregions of the United States.

For August, the contiguous U.S. average temperature was 73.9°F, 1.8°F above the 20th century average and tied with 1955 as the 13th warmest August on record. During meteorological summer (June–August) , the average temperature for the Lower 48 was 72.4°F, 1.0°F above average, ranking in the upper third of the historical record. For the year to date , the contiguous U.S. temperature was 54.3°F, 0.4°F above the 20th century average, ranking in the middle third of the January–August record. The August precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 2.74 inches, 0.12 inch above average, ranking in the middle third of the 125-year period of record. The summer precipitation total across the Lower 48 was 8.83 inches, 0.51 inch above average, ranking in the upper third of the historical record due to a wet June. The year-to-date precipitation total across the contiguous U.S. was 24.59 inches, 3.88 inches above the long-term average, ranking as the wettest January–August on record. Five of the first six months of 2019 were wet, contributing to the record wet accumulation for January–August. Average precipitation across the contiguous U.S. for the 12-month period September 2018–August 2019 was 37.55 inches, 7.61 inches above average, exceeding the previous September–August

NCEI scientist Richard Heim compares the three most severe droughts that occurred in the United States over the last 120 years.

During July, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 74.6°F, 1.0°F above the 20th century average.

The contiguous U.S. has surpassed its wettest 12-month period on record for the third time in 2019.

The June 2019 three-month summaries of climate impacts and outlooks are now available for several regions and subregions.

The May precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 4.41 inches, 1.50 inches above average, ranking second wettest in the 125-year record.

The U.S. Drought Monitor has added the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands to its weekly summary and maps.