Nationwide warmth was accompanied by extreme precipitation differences: dry conditions in the West and wet conditions in much of the East. 

The contiguous United States was warmer than average virtually coast to coast in November 2020, and much of the country was also drier than average.

The 15^th installment of NOAA's Arctic Report Card NOAA’s 15th Arctic Report Card catalogs the numerous ways that climate change continues to disrupt the polar region.

Extreme heat in the U.S. Southwest carried August 2020 into the record books as the country’s third-warmest August in the 126-year record. Despite heavy rain from landfalling tropical cyclones, national average precipitation was in the driest third of the record. 

But the precipitation mostly bypassed the West, where drought was widespread. 

The latest monthly summary from the National Centers for Environmental Information also reported that the year-to-date temperature was the eighth warmest in the 126-year record.

While May 2020 precipitation deficits drew parts of the West deeper into drought, parts of the Upper Midwest, Ohio Valley, and the Southeast got soaked.