Understanding Climate

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.

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. 

July 2020 was the second-warmest July on record for the globe, as 2020 continues its scorching path to one of the hottest years on record. 

As of 2019, the warming effect of long-lived greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere had increased by approximately 45% compared to 1990.