National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationClimate of 2000 - AugustU.S. Regional and Statewide Analyses Includes Year-to-Date Summary National Climatic Data Center, 13 September 2000 |
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Contents of This Report:
Additional information about current climate anomalies can be found at the respective Web Pages of the Southern Regional Climate Center, Western Regional Climate Center, Midwest Regional Climate Center, Southeast Regional Climate Center, High Plains Regional Climate Center, and the Northeast Regional Climate Center.
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August 2000 was the second warmest such month on record for Arkansas and Wyoming. Nine other states ranked within the top ten warm portion including
A total of 26 states ranked within the warm third portion of the distribution. Six states ranked within the cool third portion of the historical distribution for August 2000. |
| It was the driest August on record for Texas and Oklahoma and the 2nd driest August since 1895 for Arkansas and Kansas. Sixteen other states ranked within the dry third of the distribution.
Six states ranked within the wet third portion of the distribution. |
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August Regional Highlights| Based upon preliminary data, August 2000 was the second warmest such month since 1895 for the South region. The last three such months have been above the long term mean. |  larger image |
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It was the 18th wettest August on record for the West region. August 2000 was the first August since 1991 with above normal rainfall. |
| August 2000 was the driest such month since 1895 for the South region. The last two such months have been much drier than normal. |  larger image |
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Preliminary data indicate that precipitation for the growing season-to-date, March-August 2000, averaged slightly above the long-term mean for the Primary Corn and Soybean Belt. The last six such periods have been above the long-term mean. |
January-August 2000 Statewide Ranks
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Forty-five states ranked within the warm third portion of the historical distribution for January-August 2000 while 21 states ranked within the top ten warm. It was the warmest such year-to-date on record for Texas, New Mexico and Utah and the second warmest year-to-date for:
No state ranked within the cool third of the historical distribution. |
| January-August 2000 was the driest such period on record for Florida, third driest for Louisiana, fourth driest for Mississippi, and fifth driest for Alabama and Georgia. Twelve other states ranked within the dry third portion of the distribution.
It was the second wettest January-August on record for New York and the eighth wettest January-August on record for Massachusetts and Vermont. Fifteen other states ranked within the wet third portion of the distribution. |
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January-August Regional Highlights  larger image |
Preliminary data indicate that January-August 2000 was the third warmest such period since 1895 for the West-North Central region. The last three, and twelve of the last twenty, such eight-month periods have been much above the long-term mean. |
| Preliminary data indicate that the year-to-date, January-August 2000, was the tenth wettest such period on record for the Northeast region. Four of the last seven such periods have been much wetter than the long-term mean in this region, which experiences a great variability in precipitation. |  larger image |
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Preliminary data indicate that January-August 2000 was the eighth driest such period since 1895 for the Southeast region. Only two of the last twelve such periods have been much below the long-term mean. |
Damage due to the drought has been summarized by NOAA and the Office of Global Programs in the Climatological Impacts section of the Climate Information Project. Crop impact information can be found at the USDA NASS (National Agricultural Statistics Service) and Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin pages. Drought statements by local National Weather Service Offices can be found at the NWS Hydrologic Information Center. Drought threat assessments and other information can be found at NOAA's Drought Information Center.
August Precipitation and Temperature Ranks, Extremes and Normals
PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE RANKS, BASED
ON THE PERIOD 1895-2000. 1 = DRIEST/COLDEST,
106 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR AUGUST 2000,
106 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR JUL-AUG 2000,
106 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR MAR-AUG 2000,
105 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR SEP 1999-AUG 2000.
AUG JUL-AUG MAR-AUG SEP 1999-
REGION 2000 2000 2000 AUG 2000
------ ---- --------- --------- ---------
PRECIPITATION:
NORTHEAST 29 43 98 99
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 44 64 74 39
CENTRAL 42 50 51 24
SOUTHEAST 26 15 7 19
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 21 44 35 18
SOUTH 1 1 29 7
SOUTHWEST 48 16 24 8
NORTHWEST 27 18 25 32
WEST 89 63 37 44
NATIONAL 3 2 22 11
TEMPERATURE:
NORTHEAST 40 9 76 90
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 72 52 95 100
CENTRAL 75 41 81 99
SOUTHEAST 57 53 88 79
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 101 103 101 104
SOUTH 105 103 102 104
SOUTHWEST 101 102 105 104
NORTHWEST 80 77 93 101
WEST 89 79 100 103
NATIONAL* 102 95 104 104
*National Temperature Rank Based on USHCN.
Table 2 shows historical extremes for August, the 1961-1990 normal, and the August 2000 value for each of the 9 regions and the contiguous U.S. for precipitation and temperature. It should be noted that the 2000 values will change when the final data are processed.
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
DRIEST WETTEST NORMAL 2000
REGION VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR PCPN PCPN
------ ---------- ---------- ------ ------
NORTHEAST 1.78 1957 8.01 1955 3.87 3.16
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 1.35 1930 6.27 1980 3.73 3.33
CENTRAL 1.55 1953 6.30 1915 3.71 3.31
SOUTHEAST 2.71 1930 9.78 1901 5.19 4.20
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 0.77 1967 3.03 1968 1.71 1.25
SOUTH 0.73 2000 6.06 1915 2.98 0.73
SOUTHWEST 0.56 1962 3.25 1963 1.96 1.83
NORTHWEST 0.10 1967 2.98 1968 0.96 0.34
WEST 0.00 1911 2.01 1983 0.50 0.55
NATIONAL 1.76 1929 3.55 1977 2.66 1.89*
* PRELIMINARY VALUE, CONFIDENCE
INTERVAL + OR - 0.16 INCHES
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
COLDEST WARMEST NORMAL 2000
REGION VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR TEMP TEMP
------ ---------- ---------- ------ ------
NORTHEAST 62.9 1903 71.9 1937 67.4 66.8
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 63.0 1915 74.6 1947 67.6 68.9
CENTRAL 68.9 1915 79.8 1936 73.4 75.0
SOUTHEAST 75.8 1967 81.3 1900 78.0 78.4
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 63.0 1911 73.0 1983 67.4 70.6
SOUTH 76.2 1992 84.5 1943 80.2 84.5
SOUTHWEST 68.1 1968 74.6 1994 71.3 73.5
NORTHWEST 59.2 1899 69.4 1967 65.2 66.4
WEST 67.2 1899 75.7 1958 72.4 74.2
NATIONAL* 70.0 1927 75.8 1983 72.7 74.9
* National Temperature Values based on USHCN
January-August Precipitation and Temperature Ranks, Extremes and Normals
REGION PRECIPITATION TEMPERATURE
------ ------------- -----------
NORTHEAST 97 83
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 79 101
CENTRAL 56 91
SOUTHEAST 8 80
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 36 104
SOUTH 19 106
SOUTHWEST 25 106
NORTHWEST 48 96
WEST 77 103
NATIONAL* 23 106
*National Temperature Rank Based on USHCN
Table 4 shows historical extremes for January-August, the 1961-1990 normal, and the January-August 2000 value for each of the 9 regions and the contiguous U.S. for precipitation and temperature. It should be noted that the 2000 values will change when the final data are processed.
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
DRIEST WETTEST NORMAL 2000
REGION VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR PCPN PCPN
------ ---------- ---------- ------ ------
NORTHEAST 20.70 1965 34.09 1996 27.36 31.40
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 13.69 1910 27.88 1993 21.10 22.59
CENTRAL 20.02 1936 39.24 1950 29.41 30.18
SOUTHEAST 26.29 1954 45.20 1991 36.37 28.64
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 7.90 1934 18.62 1993 12.83 12.12
SOUTH 16.93 1954 32.33 1905 24.04 20.67
SOUTHWEST 6.30 1924 14.48 1941 9.20 8.15
NORTHWEST 9.14 1924 21.79 1983 16.31 15.66
WEST 4.76 1924 20.96 1998 10.33 12.77
NATIONAL 15.92 1934 23.34 1979 20.05 19.02
TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
COLDEST WARMEST NORMAL 2000
REGION VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR TEMP TEMP
------ ---------- ---------- ------ ------
NORTHEAST 44.9 1907 50.9 1998 47.4 48.4
EAST NORTH CENTRAL 41.3 1912 50.5 1987 45.5 48.1
CENTRAL 51.9 1978 59.2 1921 55.0 57.1
SOUTHEAST 61.8 1940 66.4 1990 63.7 65.3
WEST NORTH CENTRAL 41.2 1950 50.0 1934 45.8 48.9
SOUTH 61.6 1979 67.0 2000 63.9 67.0
SOUTHWEST 50.2 1917 57.7 2000 53.8 57.7
NORTHWEST 45.3 1955 53.0 1934 48.6 50.4
WEST 54.0 1949 59.9 1934 56.6 59.2
NATIONAL* 52.3 1912 57.3 2000 54.7 57.3
* National Temperature Values based on USHCN
Water Year River Basin Statistics, October 1999-August 2000
PRECIPITATION % AREA % AREA
RIVER BASIN RANK DRY WET
----------- ------------- ------ ------
MISSOURI BASIN 8 38.9% 10.4%
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BASIN 42 49.4% 0.0%
CALIFORNIA RIVER BASIN 51 37.6% 0.0%
GREAT BASIN 23 52.8% 0.0%
UPPER COLORADO BASIN 6 93.4% 0.0%
LOWER COLORADO BASIN 5 70.0% 0.0%
RIO GRANDE BASIN 4 80.1% 0.0%
ARKANSAS-WHITE-RED BASIN 40 0.0% 0.0%
TEXAS GULF COAST BASIN 20 25.6% 0.0%
SOURIS-RED-RAINY BASIN 55 0.0% 39.1%
UPPER MISSISSIPPI BASIN 44 0.0% 0.0%
LOWER MISSISSIPPI BASIN 5 46.7% 0.0%
GREAT LAKES BASIN 70 0.0% 13.4%
OHIO RIVER BASIN 54 0.0% 4.5%
TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN 14 12.3% 0.0%
NEW ENGLAND BASIN 70 0.0% 7.7%
MID-ATLANTIC BASIN 79 0.0% 33.0%
SOUTH ATLANTIC-GULF BASIN 4 64.8% 0.0%
For more information, refer to ...Thomas R. Karl and Albert J. Koscielny, 1982: "Drought in the United States: 1895-1981." Journal of Climatology, vol. 2, pp. 313-329.
Thomas R. Karl and Walter James Koss, 1984: "Regional and National Monthly, Seasonal, and Annual Temperature Weighted by Area, 1895-1983." Historical Climatology Series 4-3, National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC, 38 pp.
NOAA's National Climatic Data Center is the world's largest active archive of weather data. The preliminary temperature and precipitation rankings are available from the center by calling: 828-271-4800.
Historical precipitation and temperature ranking maps are also available on the Internet courtesy of the Climate Prediction Center.
NOAA works closely with the academic and scientific communities on climate-related research projects to increase the understanding of El Niño and improve forecasting techniques. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center monitors, analyzes and predicts climate events ranging from weeks to seasons for the nation. NOAA also operates the network of data buoys and satellites that provide vital information about the ocean waters, and initiates research projects to improve future climate forecasts. The long lead climate outlooks are available from the Climate Prediction Center.
For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:
Climate Services DivisionFor further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact:
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.info@noaa.gov
William Brown
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: william.brown@noaa.gov
Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: jay.lawrimore@noaa.gov
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2000/aug/us_regional.html