Understanding Climate

Climate Change: Global Sea Level
January 25, 2021
Categories:
How the Climate System WorksClimate Change & Global WarmingClimate Impacts
Sea level has risen 8-9 inches since 1880, and the rate is accelerating thanks to glacier and ice sheet melt.

Read more
2020 was the United States' fifth-warmest year on record
January 13, 2021
Categories:
Observing & Predicting
Nationwide warmth was accompanied by extreme precipitation differences: dry conditions in the West and wet conditions in much of the East.

Read more
November 2020: The year is ending as it began, on a hot streak
December 15, 2020
Categories:
Climate Change & Global WarmingNatural Climate PatternsObserving & PredictingExtreme Events
November 2020 was the second-warmest November on record, which increases 2020's chance of becoming the warmest year on record to over 50%.

Read more
November 2020 was warmer than average across most of the U.S.
December 9, 2020
Categories:
Observing & Predicting
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.

Read more
2020 Arctic Report Card: Climate.gov visual highlights
December 8, 2020
Categories:
Climate Change & Global WarmingClimate ImpactsObserving & Predicting
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.

Read more
U.S. sees average precipitation and slightly above-average temperature in October 2020
November 9, 2020
Categories:
Observing & Predicting
Unseasonable cold in the Rockies, Northern Plains, and Great Lakes were balanced by much warmer than average conditions in the Southwest and Southeast coastal states.

Read more
Large, deep Antarctic ozone hole persisting into November 2020
October 30, 2020
Categories:
How the Climate System WorksClimate ImpactsObserving & Predicting
A strong polar vortex supported the formation of a large and deep Antarctic ozone hole in September 2020 that should persist into November, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today.

Read more
Global warming frequently asked questions
October 29, 2020
Categories:
Climate Change & Global Warming
How do we know we can trust the historical surface temperature record? How do we know the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from fossil fuels? Did global warming stop in 1998? Get answers to these and other frequently asked questions.

Read more
September 2020 was warm and dry in the U.S. West, cool in the middle, and wet in the South and Southeast
October 8, 2020
Categories:
Observing & Predicting
The soaking brought to the Gulf region by tropical cyclones in September 2020 contrasted starkly with the hot, dry conditions in the West.

Read more
October 2020: Hot and dry likely for much of the country
October 1, 2020
Categories:
Natural Climate PatternsClimate ImpactsObserving & PredictingExtreme Events
The latest maps from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center show where October 2020 is forecast to be much hotter and drier than average in the U.S. It's not a great outlook for the wildfire-affected West.

Read more