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New Climate Normals to be Implemented in August
The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is responsible for producing 30 year
climate normals for thousands of locations across the United States. Each decade, these normals
are updated, dropping the oldest decade and adding the newest. The new climate normals including
the years 1981-2010 will be implemented in National Weather Service products the first week of August,
replacing those valid from 1971-2000. These include the daily (CLI, CF6) and monthly (CLM) climate
products that the National Weather Service in Wilmington issues for our three major climate stations,
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Dayton International Airport (DAY), and
Port Columbus International Airport (CMH).
Additional information is available from the National Climatic Data
Center (NCDC) at the following web address:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/normals/usnormals.html
Follow the link to the PDF presentation for details on how the normals
were calculated as well as for nationwide comparisons.
Here are the new normals for our local stations in tabular format (PDF files)(please note that the daily temperatures have
been rounded to whole degrees):
Cincinnati
Columbus
Dayton
Plots comparing the differences between the 1971-2000 and 1981-2010 normals can be found in the
following links. Some reflection of swapping the cool 1970s decade for the warm 2000s decade can be seen.
Low temperatures show a distinctive warming trend, although high temperatures vary. Yearly precipitation
is similar for CVG, but increases at CMH and DAY. Average yearly snowfall decreases at all three stations.
Cincinnati Plots
Columbus Plots
Dayton Plots
(please note that the 1971-2000 daily temperatures are in whole degrees, while the new 1981-2010 values are
in tenths of a degree)
If you have any questions, please contact Don Hughes, Observing Program Leader (OPL), via email at Donald.Hughes@noaa.gov or by phone at 937-383-0031.
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www.nws.noaa.gov
