National Climatic Data Center, 15 July 2001

 

Contents of This Report:

• Statewide Temperature Ranks
• Statewide Precipitation Ranks
• Regional Temperature Highlights
• Regional Precipitation Highlights
• Regional Temperature and Precipitation Time Series
• Agricultural Precipitation
• Precipitation and Temperature Ranks, Extremes and Normals
• Water-year River Basin Statistics

Statewide Temperature Ranks

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July 2001 temperatures were warmer than average in much of the middle third of the country. Oklahoma and Wyoming had their fourth warmest July in the 1895 to present record. Three other states ranked in the top ten warmest for July: Kansas - seventh warmest New Mexico - eighth warmest Texas - eighth warmest Thirteen other states fell into the warm third portion of the historical distribution.

In contrast, seventeen states ranked in the cool third portion of the historical distribution. Maryland had its second coolest July in the 1895 to present record. Other top ten coolest rankings were: Pennsylvania and Virginia - third coolest Connecticut - sixth coolest Delaware and No. Carolina - eighth coolest Rhode Island - tenth coolest In Alaska, temperatures averaged across the state were near the long-term mean.

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Statewide Precipitation Ranks

North Dakota had its second wettest July in the 1895 to present record. Other states where July 2001 ranked in the top ten wettest were: West Virginia - fifth wettest Indiana and South Dakota - eighth wettest Thirteen other states fell into the wet third portion of the historical distribution.

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Regional Temperature Highlights

Based upon preliminary data, July 2001 was the seventh coolest such month in the 1895 to present record for the Northeast region. This is the second consecutive July with much below average temperatures.

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It was the fifth warmest July in the1895 to present record for the South region. Averaged temperatures in the last seven Julys were near to or above the long-term mean.

Temperature time series for all regions can be found in the table below.

Regional Precipitation Highlights

July 2001 was the seventh driest such month in the 1895 to present record for the Northeast region. Four of the last five Julys have had below normal precipitation.

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It was the third wettest July for the West North Central region in the 1895 to present record. Near to or above normal precipitation has been recorded in eight of the last ten Julys. See the NCDC's climate watch page for further information.

Precipitation time series for all regions can be found in the table below.

Regional Temperature and Precipitation Time Series

Historical precipitation and temperature ranking maps are also available on the Internet courtesy of the Climate Prediction Center.

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.

Agricultural Precipitation

March through July 2001 precipitation has averaged above normal over the Primary Corn and Soybean agricultural belt. This makes twelve consecutive years where precipitation in the period March through July averaged near to or above normal. The growing season for the Primary Corn and Soybean Belt runs from March through September. For further agricultural information visit the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin.

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Data Tables

Table 2 shows historical extremes for July, the 1961-1990 normal, and the July 2001 value for each of the 9 regions and the contiguous U.S. for precipitation and temperature.

Table 3 shows statistics for selected river basins: Precipitation rankings are for October 2000-July 2001, where 1 = driest, and 106 = wettest, based on the period 1895 to 2001. Also shown is the areal percent of the basin experiencing severe or extreme long-term (Palmer) drought, and areal percent of the basin experiencing severe or extreme long-term (Palmer) wet conditions, as of July 2001. The river basin regions are defined by the U.S. Water Resources Council.

It should be emphasized that all of the temperature and precipitation ranks and values in Tables 1 through 3 are based on preliminary data. The ranks will change when the final data are processed. National ranks and values are based on a combination of USHCN and divisional data.

References

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.

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