• Through climate analysis, National Climatic Data Center scientists have identified nine climatically consistent regions within the contiguous United States which are useful for putting current climate anomalies into a historical perspective.

  Information about NOAA's Regional Climate Centers can be obtained by setting your web browser to:

  • http://met-www.cit.cornell.edu/other_rcc.html

  The Southern Regional Climate Center has summarized February 1999 regional climate anomalies in a newsletter:

  • http://www.SRCc.lsu.edu/newsletter/199902/index.html
  The Southeast Regional Climate Center has summarized February 1999 regional climate anomalies in a winter report:
  • http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sercc/products/seasonal_summaries/win98_99/index.html

  The National Drought Mitigation Center's Drought Watch monitors current droughts both in the United States and worldwide. Additional information can be found at:

  • http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/watch/watch.htm

Table 1 shows precipitation and temperature ranks for each of the 9 regions and the nation for February 1999, the two-month period of January-February 1999, the six months of September 1998-February 1999, and the past 12 months, March 1998-February 1999. Note: the Statewide Rank Maps are presented on the Statewide Analyses page.

           TABLE 1.  PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE RANKS, BASED
                     ON THE PERIOD 1895-1999.  1 = DRIEST/COLDEST,
                     105 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR FEBRUARY 1999,
                     105 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR JAN-FEB 1999,
                     104 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR SEP 1998-FEB 1999,
                     104 = WETTEST/WARMEST FOR MAR 1998-FEB 1999.

                                FEB    JAN-FEB   SEP 1998-  MAR 1998-
            REGION              1999     1999    FEB 1999   FEB 1999
            ------              ----  ---------  ---------  ---------

                      PRECIPITATION:

           NORTHEAST             40       96         25         70
           EAST NORTH CENTRAL    29       67         54         75
           CENTRAL               51       89         56         93

           SOUTHEAST             13       46         54         40
           WEST NORTH CENTRAL    64       74        100        100
           SOUTH                  4       40         89         36

           SOUTHWEST             18       11         51         55
           NORTHWEST            101      103         99        101
           WEST                  76       69         61         85

           NATIONAL              30       81         81         88

                      TEMPERATURE:

           NORTHEAST             94       86        100        103
           EAST NORTH CENTRAL   100       95        103        103
           CENTRAL               97       91        103        100

           SOUTHEAST             76       83        101        101
           WEST NORTH CENTRAL   101       99        103         99
           SOUTH                101      103        103        104

           SOUTHWEST             92      101        101         96
           NORTHWEST             67       86         93         98
           WEST                  57       81         62         37

           NATIONAL             100      103        104        104

It should be emphasized that all of the temperature and precipitation ranks in Table 1 are based on preliminary data. The ranks will change when the final data are processed.

Table 2 shows historical extremes for February, the 1961-1990 normal, and the February 1999 value for each of the 9 regions and the contiguous U.S. for precipitation and temperature.

              TABLE 2.  EXTREMES, 1961-90 NORMALS, AND 1999 VALUES
                        FOR FEB.  IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE
                        1999 VALUES WILL CHANGE WHEN THE FINAL DATA
                        ARE PROCESSED.

                                     PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
                                   DRIEST     WETTEST   NORMAL  1999
               REGION            VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR   PCPN   PCPN
               ------            ---------- ----------  ------ ------

              NORTHEAST            .70 1987  5.43 1900   2.65   2.43
              EAST NORTH CENTRAL   .31 1987  2.40 1922    .95    .74
              CENTRAL              .67 1947  5.46 1909   2.64   2.51

              SOUTHEAST           1.36 1898  7.45 1998   4.15   2.13
              WEST NORTH CENTRAL   .30 1985  1.07 1936    .55    .65
              SOUTH                .66 1916  5.63 1903   2.30    .76

              SOUTHWEST            .14 1972  2.07 1980    .80    .38
              NORTHWEST            .69 1920  5.95 1904   2.86   5.45
              WEST                 .21 1964  7.57 1998   2.27   3.41

              NATIONAL             .96 1947  3.20 1998   1.98   1.72*

                                  * PRELIMINARY VALUE, CONFIDENCE
                                    INTERVAL + OR -  .15 INCHES

                NATIONAL             100      104        104
                                    TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)
                                   COLDEST    WARMEST   NORMAL  1999
               REGION            VALUE YEAR VALUE YEAR   TEMP   TEMP
               ------            ---------- ----------  ------ ------

              NORTHEAST           11.6 1934  31.8 1998   23.3   28.4
              EAST NORTH CENTRAL   1.1 1936  31.6 1998   17.6   27.6
              CENTRAL             20.6 1978  41.8 1930   32.2   39.5

              SOUTHEAST           37.8 1895  56.4 1927   47.1   50.5
              WEST NORTH CENTRAL   2.7 1936  34.5 1954   22.2   30.8
              SOUTH               33.7 1905  53.5 1930   45.2   53.2

              SOUTHWEST           25.1 1903  42.8 1995   35.9   39.5
              NORTHWEST           23.3 1933  39.7 1963   33.5   34.1
              WEST                32.6 1903  48.8 1963   42.7   42.8

              NATIONAL            26.3 1899  42.1 1954   34.3   40.0*
                                  * PRELIMINARY VALUE, CONFIDENCE
                                    INTERVAL + OR -  .3 DEG. F.

Preliminary data ranked February 1999 as the fifth warmest such period on record for the West-North Central Region.

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Preliminary data ranked February 1999 as the 39th warmest such month on record for the Northwest Region.

Preliminary data ranked February 1999 as the fifth wettest such month on record for the Northwest Region.

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Preliminary data ranked February 1999 as the fourth driest such period on record for the South Region.

Preliminary data indicate that precipitation averaged across the Primary Hard Red Winter Wheat agricultural belt was much above the long-term mean and ranks as the wettest such five-month period since 1895. This area includes the panhandle of Texas, the western half of Oklahoma, all except extreme southeastern Kansas, northeastern Colorado, and southern and western Nebraska.

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For more information, refer to ...
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.

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 or on the World Wide Web at: http:/www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/documentlibrary/cvb.html

Historical precipitation and temperature ranking maps are also available on the Internet at: http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/usa.html.

NOAA works closely with the academic and science 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 on the Internet at: http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov.

For further information, contact:

William Brown
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: william.brown@noaa.gov

Mike Changery
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: mchangry@ncdc.noaa.gov

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