In 2024, Louisiana recorded 71.25 inches of precipitation. This was the highest precipitation within the 48 contiguous U.S. states that year. On the other hand, Nevada was the driest state, with only 9.53 inches of precipitation recorded. Precipitation across the United States Not only did Louisiana record the largest precipitation volume in 2024, but it also registered the highest precipitation anomaly that year, around 14.36 inches above the 1901-2000 annual average. In fact, over the last decade, rainfall across the United States was generally higher than the average recorded for the 20th century. Meanwhile, the driest states were located in the country's southwestern region, an area which – according to experts – will become even drier and warmer in the future. How does global warming affect precipitation patterns? Rising temperatures on Earth lead to increased evaporation which – ultimately – results in more precipitation. Since 1900, the volume of precipitation in the United States has increased at an average rate of 0.20 inches per decade. Nevertheless, the effects of climate change on precipitation can vary depending on the location. For instance, climate change can alter wind patterns and ocean currents, causing certain areas to experience reduced precipitation. Furthermore, even if precipitation increases, it does not necessarily increase the water availability for human consumption, which might eventually lead to drought conditions.

In 2021, Tasmania received the highest annual rainfall of any state or territory in Australia at an average of 1378 millimeters. South Australia was the driest state with 232 millimeters of rainfall on average.

In 2023, the southern state of Tabasco recorded the highest amount of precipitation across Mexico, with a total of over 1,820 millimeters of rainfall. Ranking second was Chiapas – also in the south of Mexico – where rainfall reached approximately 1,701 millimeters that year. On the other side of the spectrum, the state of Baja California was the driest, with less than 150 millimeters of precipitation registered throughout 2023.

The National Forest Climate Change Maps project was developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) and the Office of Sustainability and Climate to meet the needs of national forest managers for information on projected climate changes at a scale relevant to decision making processes, including forest plans. The maps use state-of-the-art science and are available for every national forest in the contiguous United States with relevant data coverage. Currently, the map sets include variables related to precipitation, air temperature, snow (including snow residence time and April 1 snow water equivalent), and stream flow.Historical (1975-2005) and future (2071-2090) precipitation and temperature data for the state of Alaska were developed by the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) (https://snap.uaf.edu). Monthly precipitation values (mm) were summed over the season of interest (annual, winter, or summer). These datasets have several important differences from the MACAv2-Metdata (https://climate.northwestknowledge.net/MACA/) products, used in the contiguous U.S. They were developed using different global circulation models and different downscaling methods, and were downscaled to a different scale (771 m instead of 4 km). While these cover the same time periods and use broadly similar approaches, caution should be used when directly comparing values between Alaska and the contiguous United States.Raster data are also available for download from RMRS site (https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NFS-regional-climate-change-maps/categories/us-raster-layers.html), along with pdf maps and detailed metadata (https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NFS-regional-climate-change-maps/downloads/NationalForestClimateChangeMapsMetadata.pdf).This record was taken from the USDA Enterprise Data Inventory that feeds into the https://data.gov catalog. Data for this record includes the following resources: ISO-19139 metadata ArcGIS Hub Dataset ArcGIS GeoService For complete information, please visit https://data.gov.

This dataset replaces the previous Time Bias Corrected Divisional Temperature-Precipitation Drought Index. The new divisional data set (NClimDiv) is based on the Global Historical Climatological Network-Daily (GHCN-D) and makes use of several improvements to the previous data set. For the input data, improvements include additional station networks, quality assurance reviews and temperature bias adjustments. Perhaps the most extensive improvement is to the computational approach, which now employs climatologically aided interpolation. This 5km grid based calculation nCLIMGRID helps to address topographic and network variability. This data set is primarily used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) to issue State of the Climate Reports on a monthly basis. These reports summarize recent temperature and precipitation conditions and long-term trends at a variety of spatial scales, the smallest being the climate division level. Data at the climate division level are aggregated to compute statewide, regional and national snapshots of climate conditions. For CONUS, the period of record is from 1895-present. Derived quantities such as Standardized precipitation Index (SPI), Palmer Drought Indices (PDSI, PHDI, PMDI, and ZNDX) and degree days are also available for the CONUS sites. In March 2015, data for thirteen Alaskan climate divisions were added to the NClimDiv data set. Data for the new Alaskan climate divisions begin in 1925 through the present and are included in all monthly updates. Alaskan climate data include the following elements for divisional and statewide coverage: average temperature, maximum temperature (highs), minimum temperature (lows), and precipitation. The Alaska NClimDiv data were created and updated using similar methodology as that for the CONUS, but with a different approach to establishing the underlying climatology. The Alaska data are built upon the 1971-2000 PRISM averages whereas the CONUS values utilize a base climatology derived from the NClimGrid data set. As of November 2018, NClimDiv includes county data and additional inventory files.

The National Forest Climate Change Maps project was developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) and the Office of Sustainability and Climate to meet the needs of national forest managers for information on projected climate changes at a scale relevant to decision making processes, including forest plans. The maps use state-of-the-art science and are available for every national forest in the contiguous United States with relevant data coverage. Currently, the map sets include variables related to precipitation, air temperature, snow (including snow residence time and April 1 snow water equivalent), and stream flow.Historical (1975-2005) and future (2071-2090) precipitation and temperature data for the contiguous United States are ensemble mean values across 20 global climate models from the CMIP5 experiment (https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00094.1), downscaled to a 4 km grid. For more information on the downscaling method and to access the data, please see Abatzoglou and Brown, 2012 (https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.2312) and the Northwest Knowledge Network (https://climate.northwestknowledge.net/MACA/). We used the MACAv2- Metdata monthly dataset; monthly precipitation values (mm) were summed over the season of interest (annual, winter, or summer). Absolute and percent change were then calculated between the historical and future time periods.Raster data are also available for download from RMRS site (https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NFS-regional-climate-change-maps/categories/us-raster-layers.html), along with pdf maps and detailed metadata (https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NFS-regional-climate-change-maps/downloads/NationalForestClimateChangeMapsMetadata.pdf).

In 2024, the state of Louisiana recorded the wettest precipitation anomaly across the contiguous United States, with around 14.4 inches of precipitation above the 1901-2000 annual average. Ranking second was the state of Rhode Island, where rainfall was more than 11.5 inches above the average. That same year, the annual precipitation anomaly across the U.S. amounted to some 1.66 inches.

In 2024, the United States saw some 31.6 inches of precipitation. The main forms of precipitation include hail, drizzle, rain, sleet, and snow. Since the turn of the century, 2012 was the driest year on record with an annual precipitation of 27.5 inches. Regional disparities in rainfall Louisiana emerged as the wettest state in the U.S. in 2024, recording a staggering 71.25 inches (1.8 meters) of precipitation—nearly 14.4 inches (ca. 37 centimeters) above its historical average. In stark contrast, Nevada received only 9.53 inches (ca. 24 centimeters), underscoring the vast differences in rainfall across the nation. These extremes illustrate the uneven distribution of precipitation, with the southwestern states experiencing increasingly dry conditions that experts predict will worsen in the coming years. Drought concerns persist Drought remains a significant concern in many parts of the country. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for the contiguous United States stood at -3.39 in December 2024, indicating moderate to severe drought conditions. This reading follows three years of generally negative PDSI values, with the most extreme drought recorded in December 2023 at -3.93.

The North America climate data were derived from WorldClim, a set of global climate layers developed by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in collaboration with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture and Rainforest CRC with support from NatureServe.The global climate data layers were generated through interpolation of average monthly climate data from weather stations across North America. The result is a 30-arc-second-resolution (1-Km) grid of mean temperature values. The North American data were clipped from the global data and reprojected to a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection. Background information on the WorldClim database is available in: Very High-Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces for Global Land Areas; Hijmans, R.J., S.E. Cameron, J.L. Parra, P.G. Jones and A. Jarvis; International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965-1978; 2005.Files Download

PRISM is an analytical model that uses point data and an underlying grid such as a digital elevation model (DEM) or a 30 yr climatological average (e.g. 1971- 2000 average) to generate gridded estimates of monthly and annual precipitation and temperature (as well as other climatic parameters). 800m spacing. In the Smokies, the average annual rainfall varies from approximately 55 inches in the valleys to over 85 inches on some peaks-more than anywhere else in the country except the Pacific Northwest, qualifying these upper elevation areas as temperate rain forests. During wet years, over eight feet of rain falls in the high country. The relative humidity in the park during the growing season is about twice that of the Rocky Mountain region. The broad range of elevations in the Great Smoky Mountains (<1000 to 6642 ft asl) contributes to the wide variety of climates therein. At the lower elevations (ca. 1000 ft) the climate is humid mesothermal with precipitation distributed throughout the year. At the uppermost elevations, which are among the highest attained in the Appalachian chain, the relatively cool, wet climate is perhumid microthermal. It supports evergreen coniferous forest vegetation rather than the deciduous forest vegetation typical of lower elevations. Total annual precipitation in the high-elevation coniferous forests rivals that of some of the wettest regions of the United States.

The U.S. Climate Normals are a large suite of data products that provide information about typical climate conditions for thousands of locations across the United States. Normals act both as a ruler to compare today’s weather and tomorrow’s forecast, and as a predictor of conditions in the near future. The official normals are calculated for a uniform 30 year period, and consist of annual/seasonal, monthly, daily, and hourly averages and statistics of temperature, precipitation, and other climatological variables from almost 15,000 U.S. weather stations.

NCEI generates the official U.S. normals every 10 years in keeping with the needs of our user community and the requirements of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and National Weather Service (NWS). The 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals are the latest in a series of decadal normals first produced in the 1950s. These data allow travelers to pack the right clothes, farmers to plant the best crop varieties, and utilities to plan for seasonal energy usage. Many other important economic decisions that are made beyond the predictive range of standard weather forecasts are either based on or influenced by climate normals.

[Metadata] Mean Annual Rainfall Isohyets in Millimeters for the Islands of Hawai‘i, Kaho‘olawe, Kaua‘i, Lāna‘i, Maui, Moloka‘i and O‘ahu. Source: 2011 Rainfall Atlas of Hawaii, https://rainfall.geography.hawaii.edu/. Note that Moloka‘I data/maps were updated in 2014. Please see Rainfall Atlas final report appendix for full method details: https://rainfall.geography.hawaii.edu/downloads.html. Statewide GIS program staff downloaded data from UH Geography Department, Rainfall Atlas of Hawaii, February, 2019. Annual and monthly isohyets of mean rainfall were available for download. The statewide GIS program makes available only the annual layer. Both the monthly layers and the original annual layer are available from the Rainfall Atlas of Hawaii website, referenced above. For additional information, please see metadata at https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/op/gis/data/isohyets.pdf or contact Hawaii Statewide GIS Program, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, State of Hawaii; PO Box 2359, Honolulu, Hi. 96804; (808) 587-2846; email: gis@hawaii.gov; Website: https://planning.hawaii.gov/gis.

One of the most basic ways to visualize global temperature data over time is with what has come to be called "warming stripes." Popularized by Ed Hawkins, this style of graphic is a row of thin vertical stripes, each showing one year's temperature compared to a long-term average. These simple visualizations do not use numbers or dates; the pattern of colors alone tells the story of climate change and variability over time. For this webmap, meteorologist Jared Rennie has produced climate stripes images for temperature and precipitation trends in U.S. states from 1895–2022. Users can click on a location and see a temperature stripes image and a precipitation stripes image based on NOAA climate data. A previous version of this app included Alaska, but not Hawaii or Washington, D.C. This map includes all three. Description of DataData originates from NOAA NCEI's climate at a glance page, which uses a 5-kilometer gridded data set, known as nClimgrid. This data set provides temperature and precipitation information for each month back to 1895 for the contiguous United States ("the Lower 48"). Annual estimates since 1895 are derived from the monthly data and aggregated onto each state for the continental United States, including the District of Columbia. For Alaska, data go back to 1925; for Hawaii, the images are based on data from individual stations dating back to 1955. To depict the long term change in temperature and precipitation, annual data are then compared to a 20th-century average (1901-2000). These differences from the long-term average (known as a departure from normal, or anomaly) are then used to produce the climate stripes image. For more information on anomalies, please refer to this FAQ page.

The majority of the wettest cities in the United States are located in the Southeast. The major city with the most precipitation is New Orleans, Louisiana, which receives an average of 1592 millimeters (62.7 inches) of precipitation every year, based on an average between 1981 and 2010.

This dataset measures annual and seasonal rainfall at 30 sites across Aotearoa New Zealand from 1960 to 2022. We also provide data for annual and seasonal anomalies (difference from baseline) for each site from 1960 to 2022.

Variables: site: NIWA climate site. season: Season or Annual data (combined for ease of data use) precipitation: Rainfall in mm period_start: Start date of season or year period_end: End date of season or year pretty_site_name: pretty site name lat: Approximate latitude location of NIWA climate stations to represent a site. lon: Approximate longitude location of NIWA climate stations to represent a site. anom_1961: Anomaly against baseline 1961-1990 anom_1991: Anomaly against baseline 1991-2020 site_simple: pretty_site_name without macrons

Please note, this dataset has been superseded by a newer version (see below). Users should not use this version except in rare cases (e.g., when reproducing previous studies that used this version). USCRN "Processed" Data (labeled as "uscrn-processed"): are interpreted values and derived geophysical parameters with other quality indicators processed from raw data (both Datalogger files and/or Raw Data from GOES and NOAAPort) by the USCRN Team. Climate variable types include air temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, soil temperature, surface temperature, wetness, global solar radiation, relative humidity, and wind at 1.5 m above the ground. Many additional engineering variables are also available. These data have been decoded, quality-flagged, and processed into level 1 hourly data (the only applied quality control is rounding some values as they enter the database), and includes additional calculated values such as precipitation (5-minute and hourly), hourly maximum temperature, hourly minimum temperature, average temperature (5-minute and hourly), soil moisture (volumetric water content, 5-minute values at the 5 cm depth and and hourly values at all depths) for all dielectric values in range, layer average soil moisture (5 minute and hourly), and layer average soil temperature (5 minute and hourly). It is the general practice of USCRN to not calculate derived variables if the input data to these calculations are flagged. These data records are versioned based on the processing methods and algorithms used for the derivations (versions are noted within the data netCDF file), and data are updated when the higher quality raw data become available from stations' datalogger storage (Datalogger Files).

This dataset measures extreme rainfall at 30 sites across Aotearoa New Zealand from 1960 to 2022. We measure the maximum amount of rainfall in a single day (‘maximum one-day rainfall’), the number of very wet days (‘very wet days’), and the percentage of annual rainfall from very wet days (‘rainfall due to very wet days’). We present annual values for these measures.

Variables: site: NIWA 30 stations period_start: start of year period_end: end of year reference _period: climate normal used to identify very wet days parameter: Parameter (maximum one-day rainfall (mm), number of very wet days, rainfall due to very wet days (%)) data_value: Data value for parameter lat: Latitude lon: Longitude pretty_site_name: Pretty site name site_simple: pretty_site_name without macrons

In 2012, Queensland experienced a wetter than average year, but then experienced much drier years from 2013-2015, leading to widespread drought.

Average annual rainfall for the Australian continent based on a standard 30-year climatology (1961-1990). Source: Bureau of Meteorology - see http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/rainfall/index.jsp

Map prepared by the Department of Environment and Energy in order to produce Figure WAT2 in the Inland Waters theme of the 2016 State of the Environment Report, available at http://www.soe.environment.gov.au

The map service can be viewed at http://soe.terria.io/#share=s-ruqkk2hcl1aejMkbavYvrDSH1T7

Downloadable data also available below.

Rainfall deciles for 1 January to 31 December 2015. Source : Bureau of Meteorology, see http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/rain/index.jsp

Map prepared by the Department of Environment and Energy in order to produce Figure WAT4 in the Inland Waters theme of the 2016 State of the Environment Report, available at http://www.soe.environment.gov.au

The map service can be viewed at http://soe.terria.io/#share=s-gLcoO8EOUAGHtslwEaDN36rcvHh

Downloadable spatial data will be made available through this page in the near future.