Extreme Climates in the U.S.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Climatic Data Center

Extreme Weather Collage

Contents

The United States is a large and diverse land mass with widely varying climate conditions. Local climates are affected by factors that include topography, elevation, proximity to oceans, lakes, and rivers, and latitude. The unique climate conditions of different areas of the country are reflected in the following top 10 lists. These lists are based on data from the nation's major observing stations in all 48 states and reflect 30-year averages of temperature, wind, snowfall, rainfall, and humidity. These tables last updated on January 16, 2008.

Hottest/Coldest

Station Name Mean Temp °F Station Name Mean Temp °F
Key West, FL 78.1°F Mount Washington, NH 27.2°F
Miami, FL 76.7°F International Falls, MN 37.4°F
Yuma, AZ 75.3°F Marquette, MI 38.7°F
West Palm Beach, FL 75.3°F Duluth, MN 39.1°F
Fort Wayne, FL 74.9°F Caribou, ME 39.2°F
Phoenix, AZ 74.2°F Sault Ste. Marie, MI 40.1°F
Brownsville, TX 73.3°F Grand Forks, ND 40.3°F
Vero Beach, FL 73.2°F Alamosa, CO 40.8°F
Tampa, FL 73.1°F Williston, ND 40.9°F
Orlando, FL 72.8°F Fargo, ND 41.5°F

Driest/Wettest

Station Name Precip in Inches Station Name Precip in Inches
Yuma, AZ 3.01 Mount Washington, NH 101.91
Las Vegas, NV 4.49 Quillayute, WA 101.72
Bishop, CA 5.02 Astoria, OR 67.13
Bakersfield, CA 6.49 Mobile, AL 66.29
Alamosa, CO 7.25 Pensacola, FL 64.28
Reno, NV 7.48 New Orleans, LA 64.16
Winslow, AZ 8.03 Tallahassee, FL 63.21
Yakima, WA 8.26 Baton Rouge, LA 63.08
Phoenix, AZ 8.29 West Palm Beach, FL 61.39
Winnemucca, NV 8.33 Port Arthur, TX 59.89

Windiest/Snowiest

Station Name Mean Wind Speed (mph) Station Name Snowfall in Inches
Mount Washington, NH 35.1 Mount Washington, NH 260.6
Blue Hill, MA 15.2 Blue Cayon, CA 240.3
Dodge City, KS 13.9 Marquette, MI 144.1
Amarillo, TX 13.5 Syracuse, NY 118.1
Cheyenne, WY 12.9 Sault Ste. Marie, MI 117.4
Rochester, MN 12.8 Caribou, ME 112.3
Casper, WY 12.7 Mount Shasta, CA 104.9
Goodland, KS 12.5 Flagstaff, AZ 100.6
Great Falls, MT 12.5 Lander, WY 100.1
Boston, MA 12.4 Sexton Summit, OR 97.8

Sunniest/Cloudiest

Station Name % of Possible Sunshine Station Name # of Cloudy Days
Yuma, AZ 90 Mount Washington, NH 244
Redding, CA 88 Astoria, OR 239
Tucson, AZ 85 Quillayute, WA 239
Phoenix, AZ 85 Olympia, WA 228
Las Vegas, NV 85 Seattle Sea-Tac AP, WA 226
El Paso, TX 84 Portland, OR 222
Reno, NV 79 Kalispell, MT 214
Fresno, CA 79 Binghamton, NY 212
Flagstaff, AZ 78 Elkins, WV 212
Sacramento, CA 78 Beckley, WV 210

Most Humid/Least Himid

Station Name % of Relative Humidity Station Name % of Relative Humidity
Quillayute, WA 83.5 Yuma, AZ 22.5
Mount Washington, NH 83.0 Las Vegas, NV 30.0
Astoria, OR 81.0 Phoenix, AZ 36.0
Port Arthur, TX 80.0 Tucson, AZ 38.5
Lake Charles, LA 79.5 Bishop, CA 38.5
Corpus Christi, TX 78.5 El Paso, TX 41.5
Victoria, TX 78.5 Albuquerque, NM 43.5
Brownsville, TX 78.0 Winslow, AZ 44.5
Houston, TX 78.0 Mount Shasta, CA 47.0
Olympia, WA 78.0 Grand Junction, CO 48.5

Most Frequent Rain and Snow/Least Frequent Rain and Snow

Station Name # of Days with Precip Station Name # of Days with Precip
Mount Washington, NH 204 Yuma, AZ 16
Quillayute, WA 202 Las Vegas, NV 20
Astoria, OR 188 Bishop, CA 22
Syracuse, NY 166 Phoenix, AZ 28
Elkins, WV 164 Santa Barbara, CA 30
Buffalo, NY 162 Long Beach, CA 33
Sault Ste. Marie, MI 160 Los Angeles AP, CA 33
Marquette, MI 159 Los Angeles C.O., CA 34
Erie, PA 156 Bakersfield, CA 35
Olympia, WA 156 San Diego, CA 38

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Questions?

For all climate questions, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services and Monitoring Division:

Climate Services and Monitoring Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: +1-828-271-4876
phone: +1-828-271-4800
email: ncdc.info@noaa.gov
To request climate data, please E-mail:ncdc.orders@noaa.gov

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