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State of the Weather

Climate change doesn't mean it's always hot outside, or that every year will necessarily be hotter than the next. For example, the average temperature of the United States was below 20th century historical averages as recently as February 2015. You can use the following visualization to see changes through time in American weather. You can view the average temperature, maximum average temperature, minimum average temperature, average precipitation level and the average drought level for every state in the contiguous United States. The strip charts below each line chart show anomalies from the historical averages for the chart above it. Data ranges from 1895 to 2016, depending on the state. Hover over or swipe a graph to see details for that state and month. (Note: does not include Alaska or Hawaii).

Note: dotted yellow lines in graphs indicate the historic average for the chart in question.

If you like to see historical world temperatures see the companion site World of the Weather.

Selected Area: Contiguous U.S. (January)

Average Temperature

(Historical Avg: degrees)

As might be expected, average temperatures vary widely across the United States. Geography isn't the only reason that temperatures have varied. Notice that over the last few years much of the west has been well above average compared to the east. While, in December 2015 the situation was reversed and much of the east had significantly above average temperatures. Overall, the average maximum and minimum temperatures tend to closely track the hottest and coldest months on record.

Overall, The hottest daily average temperature for in was in when the average temperature was degrees.The coolest daily average temperature for in was in when the average temperature was degrees.

Average Maximum Temperature

(Historical Avg: degrees)

The hottest maximum daily average temperature for in was in when the average maximum temperature was degrees. The coolest maximum daily average temperature for in was in when the average maximum temperature was degrees.

Average Minimum Temperature

(Historical Avg: degrees)

The hottest minimum daily average temperature for in was in when the average minimum temperature was degrees. The coldest minimum daily average temperature for in on record was in when the average minimum temperature was degrees.

Average Precipitation

(Historical Avg: inches)

(Historical Avg Drought Level: )

In a country the size of the United States the average levels of precipitation, vary widely. The United States tends to be much drier west of the 100th meridian of longitude (roughly, a line from central North Dakota down thorough Texas). In addition, to being drier on average than the east, much of the west has been in a deep drought since the turn of the century. To view drought levels see the Palmer Drought Index below the precipitation chart.

The wettest on record was in when an average of inches of rain fell across . The driest on record was in when an average of inches of rain fell across .

Palmer Drought Index

Compare precipitation with the level of drought for a state via the Palmer Drought Index. The Palmer Drought Index is a measure of long term drought. It calculates soil moisture based on recent precipitation and temperature. 0 is considered a normal level of soil moisture, while increasingly negative numbers indicate progressively severe levels of drought. Positive numbers represent increasingly wet soil conditions. For full details see the Wikipedia entry.

The least drought ridden on record in was when the Palmer Drought Index was . The deepest drought for on record in was when the Palmer Drought Index was .