New 1991-2020 Climate Normals Released

New 1991-2020 Climate Normals Released May 4th

After much anticipation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) along with the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have released the new U.S. Climate normals for 1991-2020. These normals span a 30-year period, and are updated once each decade. The previous set of normals spanned from 1981-2010.

This important update helps us explain how current weather conditions measure up to the recent past. Normals provide information about temperature, precipitation, snowfall, heating/cooling degree days, first and last frost/freeze dates, growing degree days, and much more. Several new normals will be introduced for the first time.

Below are some helpful links:


Annual average temperature change from the old 1981-2010 normals to the new 1991-2020 normals. With the exception of the north-central U.S., the entire country trended warmer, including Kansas.	Annual average precipitation change from the old 1981-2010 normals to the new 1991-2020 normals. Large portions of the eastern and northern U.S. trended wetter, with much of the west and southwest trending drier. Kansas saw a mix of wetter and drier.