National Climatic Data Center, 13 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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June 2001 temperatures were warmer than average in much of the southwest and northeast. New Jersey had its third warmest June in the 1895 to present record. The four other states where temperatures ranked in the top ten warmest for June were: Nevada - fifth warmest Rhode Island - seventh warmest Maine - ninth warmest Massachusettes - ninth warmest Fifteen other states fell into the warm third portion of the historical distribution.

In contrast, nine states ranked in the cool third portion of the historical distribution. Washington, Illinois and Indiana southward to Louisiana then east to Georgia experienced cooler than average temperatures. In Alaska, temperatures averaged across the state were above normal for the sixteenth consecutive June with 2001 ranking as the second warmest June out of 84 years of record. The warmest June in the 1918 to present record was in 1997.

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Statewide Precipitation Ranks

Heavy rains primarily from remnants of Tropical Storm Allison gave Louisiana its second wettest June in the 1895 to present record. Other states where June 2001 ranked in the top ten wettest were: Georgia - fouth wettest Rhode Island - fifth wettest Delaware - eighth wettest New Jersey - tenth wettest Alabama - tenth wettest Fourteen other states fell into the wet third portion of the historical distribution.

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Regional Temperature Highlights

Based upon preliminary data, June 2001 was the thirty-second coolest such month in the 1895 to present record for the Central region. This is the second consecutive June where temperatures have averaged below the long-term mean.

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It was the twelfth warmest June in the 1895 to present record for the West region. Averaged temperatures in eleven of the last sixteen Junes were above the long-term mean.

Regional Precipitation Highlights

June 2001 was the twenty-seventh driest such month in the 1895 to present record for the Southwest region. However, five of the last seven Junes have had above normal precipitation.

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It was the eleventh wettest June for the Southeast region in the 1895 to present record. Above normal precipitation has been recorded in seven of the last eleven Junes. Much of June 2001's precipitation in this region was due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison. See the NCDC's climate watch page for further information.

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 June 2001 precipitation has averaged near normal over the Primary Corn and Soybean agricultural belt. This follows six consecutive years where precipitation in the period March through June averaged 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 June, the 1961-1990 normal, and the June 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-June 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 June 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.

Questions?

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