September 23rd, 2011

Welcome to the New Normal Weather

by Alex Hallatt

From the National Oceanic and Atmostpheric Administration (NOAA):

Updated each decade, the U.S. Climate Normals are 30-year averages of many pieces of weather information collected from thousands of weather stations nationwide. Each time they are updated, an old decade is dropped, and a new one added. Starting in July, when you hear that a day was hotter, or colder, or rainier than normal, that ”normal” will be a little different from what it was in the past.

And what a difference:

The maps show the change in the July maximum temperatures and the January minimum temperatures for the continental US. Sobering stuff.