The average temperature in the contiguous United States reached 55.5 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) in 2024, approximately 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th-century average. These levels represented a record since measurements started in 1895. Monthly average temperatures in the U.S. were also indicative of this trend. Temperatures and emissions are on the rise The rise in temperatures since 1975 is similar to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. Although CO₂ emissions in recent years were lower than when they peaked in 2007, they were still generally higher than levels recorded before 1990. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and is the main driver of climate change. Extreme weather Scientists worldwide have found links between the rise in temperatures and changing weather patterns. Extreme weather in the U.S. has resulted in natural disasters such as hurricanes and extreme heat waves becoming more likely. Economic damage caused by extreme temperatures in the U.S. has amounted to hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars over the past few decades.

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; average temperature values were calculated as the mean of monthly minimum and maximum air temperature values (degrees C), averaged over the season of interest (annual, winter, or summer). Absolute change was 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).

This dataset provides values for TEMPERATURE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2024, the average annual temperature in the United States was 13.06 degrees Celsius, the warmest year recorded in the period in consideration. In 1895, this figure stood at 10.18 degrees Celsius. Recent years have been some of the warmest years recorded in the country.

Temperature in the United States increased to 10.25 celsius in 2023 from 9.74 celsius in 2022. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Average Temperature.

Historical changes of annual temperature and precipitation indices at selected 210 U.S. cities

This dataset provide:

Annual average temperature, total precipitation, and temperature and precipitation extremes calculations for 210 U.S. cities.

Historical rates of changes in annual temperature, precipitation, and the selected temperature and precipitation extreme indices in the 210 U.S. cities.

Estimated thresholds (reference levels) for the calculations of annual extreme indices including warm and cold days, warm and cold nights, and precipitation amount from very wet days in the 210 cities.

Annual average of daily mean temperature, Tmax, and Tmin are included for annual average temperature calculations. Calculations were based on the compiled daily temperature and precipitation records at individual cities.

Temperature and precipitation extreme indices include: warmest daily Tmax and Tmin, coldest daily Tmax and Tmin , warm days and nights, cold days and nights, maximum 1-day precipitation, maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation, precipitation amounts from very wet days.

Number of missing daily Tmax, Tmin, and precipitation values are included for each city.

Rates of change were calculated using linear regression, with some climate indices applied with the Box-Cox transformation prior to the linear regression.

The historical observations from ACIS belong to Global Historical Climatological Network - daily (GHCN-D) datasets. The included stations were based on NRCC’s “ThreadEx” project, which combined daily temperature and precipitation extremes at 255 NOAA Local Climatological Locations, representing all large and medium size cities in U.S. (See Owen et al. (2006) Accessing NOAA Daily Temperature and Precipitation Extremes Based on Combined/Threaded Station Records).

Resources:

See included README file for more information.

Additional technical details and analyses can be found in: Lai, Y., & Dzombak, D. A. (2019). Use of historical data to assess regional climate change. Journal of climate, 32(14), 4299-4320. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0630.1

Other datasets from the same project can be accessed at: https://kilthub.cmu.edu/projects/Use_of_historical_data_to_assess_regional_climate_change/61538

ACIS database for historical observations: http://scacis.rcc-acis.org/

GHCN-D datasets can also be accessed at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/global-historical-climatology-network-daily/

Station information for each city can be accessed at: http://threadex.rcc-acis.org/

• 2024 August updated -

  Annual calculations for 2022 and 2023 were added.

  Linear regression results and thresholds for extremes were updated because of the addition of 2022 and 2023 data.

  Note that future updates may be infrequent.

• 2022 January updated -

  Annual calculations for 2021 were added.

  Linear regression results and thresholds for extremes were updated because of the addition of 2021 data.

• 2021 January updated -

  Annual calculations for 2020 were added.

  Linear regression results and thresholds for extremes were updated because of the addition of 2020 data.

• 2020 January updated -

  Annual calculations for 2019 were added.

  Linear regression results and thresholds for extremes were updated because of the addition of 2019 data.

  Thresholds for all 210 cities were combined into one single file – Thresholds.csv.

• 2019 June updated -

  Baltimore was updated with the 2018 data (previously version shows NA for 2018) and new ID to reflect the GCHN ID of Baltimore-Washington International AP. city_info file was updated accordingly.

  README file was updated to reflect the use of "wet days" index in this study. The 95% thresholds for calculation of wet days utilized all daily precipitation data from the reference period and can be different from the same index from some other studies, where only days with at least 1 mm of precipitation were utilized to calculate the thresholds. Thus the thresholds in this study can be lower than the ones that would've be calculated from the 95% percentiles from wet days (i.e., with at least 1 mm of precipitation).

The monthly average temperature in the United States between 2020 and 2025 shows distinct seasonal variation, following similar patterns. For instance, in April 2025, the average temperature across the North American country stood at 12.02 degrees Celsius. Rising temperatures Globally, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024 were some of the warmest years ever recorded since 1880. Overall, there has been a dramatic increase in the annual temperature since 1895. Within the U.S. annual temperatures show a great deal of variation depending on region. For instance, Florida tends to record the highest maximum temperatures across the North American country, while Wyoming recorded the lowest minimum average temperature in recent years. Carbon dioxide emissions Carbon dioxide is a known driver of climate change, which impacts average temperatures. Global historical carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels have been on the rise since the industrial revolution. In recent years, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes reached over 37 billion metric tons. Among all countries globally, China was the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2023.

Temperature in China increased to 8.40 celsius in 2023 from 8.13 celsius in 2022. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for China Average Temperature.

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 the standard Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection used for the North American Environmental Atlas. 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

This map plots the Change in Average Annual Temperature if Earth’s long-term average temperature reaches specific levels of warming. These Global Warming Levels (GWLs) correspond to global average temperature increases of 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 °C above pre-industrial levels measured from 1851 to 1900. On the Fahrenheit scale, these warming levels are 2.7, 3.6, 5.4, and 7.2 °F. As of the 2020s, global average temperature has already increased around 2 °F above pre-industrial levels.Each layer of the map is style with the same range of data so that the spatial patterns of change can be compared across all scenarios. The projections are derived from downscaled climate models from LOCA2 and STAR-ESDM, and were used in the 5th National Climate Assessment. Click on the layers below to view more detailed descriptions of how the data was generated.

This metadata record describes the 30-year annual average of precipitation in millimeters (mm) and temperature (Celsius) during the period 1990–2019 for North America. The source data were produced by and acquired from DAYMET daily climate data (2020) and presented here as a series of two 1-kilometer resolution GeoTIFF files. An open source python code file used to process the data is also included.

This dataset provides values for TEMPERATURE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

[Updated 28/01/25 to fix an issue in the ‘Lower’ values, which were not fully representing the range of uncertainty. ‘Median’ and ‘Higher’ values remain unchanged. The size of the change varies by grid cell and fixed period/global warming levels but the average difference between the 'lower' values before and after this update is 0.13°C.]What does the data show? This dataset shows the change in annual temperature for a range of global warming levels, including the recent past (2001-2020), compared to the 1981-2000 baseline period. Note, as the values in this dataset are averaged over a year they do not represent possible extreme conditions.The dataset uses projections of daily average air temperature from UKCP18 which are averaged to give values for the 1981-2000 baseline, the recent past (2001-2020) and global warming levels. The warming levels available are 1.5°C, 2.0°C, 2.5°C, 3.0°C and 4.0°C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) period. The recent past value and global warming level values are stated as a change (in °C) relative to the 1981-2000 value. This enables users to compare annual average temperature trends for the different periods. In addition to the change values, values for the 1981-2000 baseline (corresponding to 0.51°C warming) and recent past (2001-2020, corresponding to 0.87°C warming) are also provided. This is summarised in the table below.

PeriodDescription 1981-2000 baselineAverage temperature (°C) for the period 2001-2020 (recent past)Average temperature (°C) for the period 2001-2020 (recent past) changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-2000 1.5°C global warming level changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-2000 2°C global warming level changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-20002.5°C global warming level changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-2000 3°C global warming level changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-2000 4°C global warming level changeTemperature change (°C) relative to 1981-2000What is a global warming level?The Annual Average Temperature Change is calculated from the UKCP18 regional climate projections using the high emissions scenario (RCP 8.5) where greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow. Instead of considering future climate change during specific time periods (e.g. decades) for this scenario, the dataset is calculated at various levels of global warming relative to the pre-industrial (1850-1900) period. The world has already warmed by around 1.1°C (between 1850–1900 and 2011–2020), whilst this dataset allows for the exploration of greater levels of warming. The global warming levels available in this dataset are 1.5°C, 2°C, 2.5°C, 3°C and 4°C. The data at each warming level was calculated using a 21 year period. These 21 year periods are calculated by taking 10 years either side of the first year at which the global warming level is reached. This time will be different for different model ensemble members. To calculate the value for the Annual Average Temperature Change, an average is taken across the 21 year period.We cannot provide a precise likelihood for particular emission scenarios being followed in the real world future. However, we do note that RCP8.5 corresponds to emissions considerably above those expected with current international policy agreements. The results are also expressed for several global warming levels because we do not yet know which level will be reached in the real climate as it will depend on future greenhouse emission choices and the sensitivity of the climate system, which is uncertain. Estimates based on the assumption of current international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions suggest a median warming level in the region of 2.4-2.8°C, but it could either be higher or lower than this level.What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?This data contains a field for the 1981-2000 baseline, 2001-2020 period and each warming level. They are named 'tas annual change' (change in air 'temperature at surface'), the warming level or historic time period, and 'upper' 'median' or 'lower' as per the description below. e.g. 'tas annual change 2.0 median' is the median value for the 2.0°C warming level. Decimal points are included in field aliases but not in field names, e.g. 'tas annual change 2.0 median' is named 'tas_annual_change_20_median'. To understand how to explore the data, refer to the New Users ESRI Storymap. Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘tas annual change 2.0°C median’ values.What do the 'median', 'upper', and 'lower' values mean?Climate models are numerical representations of the climate system. To capture uncertainty in projections for the future, an ensemble, or group, of climate models are run. Each ensemble member has slightly different starting conditions or model set-ups. Considering all of the model outcomes gives users a range of plausible conditions which could occur in the future.For this dataset, the model projections consist of 12 separate ensemble members. To select which ensemble members to use, the Annual Average Temperature Change was calculated for each ensemble member and they were then ranked in order from lowest to highest for each location.The ‘lower’ fields are the second lowest ranked ensemble member. The ‘higher’ fields are the second highest ranked ensemble member. The ‘median’ field is the central value of the ensemble.This gives a median value, and a spread of the ensemble members indicating the range of possible outcomes in the projections. This spread of outputs can be used to infer the uncertainty in the projections. The larger the difference between the lower and higher fields, the greater the uncertainty.‘Lower’, ‘median’ and ‘upper’ are also given for the baseline period as these values also come from the model that was used to produce the projections. This allows a fair comparison between the model projections and recent past. Useful linksFor further information on the UK Climate Projections (UKCP).Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal.

Measurements of surface air and ocean temperature are compiled from around the world each month by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and are analyzed and compared to the 1971-2000 average temperature for each location. The resulting temperature anomaly (or difference from the average) is shown in this feature service, which includes an archive going back to 1880. The mean of the 12 months each year is displayed here. Each annual update is available around the 15th of the following January (e.g., 2020 is available Jan 15th, 2021). The NOAAGlobalTemp dataset is the official U.S. long-term record of global temperature data and is often used to show trends in temperature change around the world. It combines thousands of land-based station measurements from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) along with surface ocean temperature from the Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) analysis. These two datasets are merged into a 5-degree resolution product. A report summary report by NOAA NCEI is available here. GHCN monthly mean station averages for temperature and precipitation for the 1981-2010 period are also available in Living Atlas here.What can you do with this layer? Visualization: This layer can be used to plot areas where temperature was higher or lower than the historical average for each year since 1880. Be sure to configure the time settings in your web map to view the timeseries correctly. Analysis: This layer can be used as an input to a variety of geoprocessing tools, such as Space Time Cubes and other trend analyses. For a more detailed temporal analysis, a monthly mean is available here.

(From http://www.worldclim.org/methods) - For a complete description, see:

Hijmans, R.J., S.E. Cameron, J.L. Parra, P.G. Jones and A. Jarvis, 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965-1978.

The data layers were generated through interpolation of average monthly climate data from weather stations on a 30 arc-second resolution grid (often referred to as 1 km2 resolution). Variables included are monthly total precipitation, and monthly mean, minimum and maximum temperature, and 19 derived bioclimatic variables.

The WorldClim interpolated climate layers were made using: * Major climate databases compiled by the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN), the FAO, the WMO, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), R-HYdronet, and a number of additional minor databases for Australia, New Zealand, the Nordic European Countries, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, among others. * The SRTM elevation database (aggregeated to 30 arc-seconds, 1 km) * The ANUSPLIN software. ANUSPLIN is a program for interpolating noisy multi-variate data using thin plate smoothing splines. We used latitude, longitude, and elevation as independent variables.

Mean annual temperature data layer used in the creation of Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) classification. The classification layers have been made publicly available by the Ministry for the Environment (see https://data.mfe.govt.nz/layers/?q=LENZ for to access these layers).

Mean annual temperature is recorded in °C. The climate station data used in the development of this climate surface were derived from summaries of climate observations published by the New Zealand Meteorological Service, using data collected over the period from 1950-1980. The resulting data layer was created by coupling a 100 m DEM with a thin-plate spline surface fitted to an irregular network of 300 meteorological stations. The resulting 100 metre layer was then interpolated to 25 metres using bilinear interpolation. Following conventions used in the calculation of climate summary statistics, the values used to fit the surface consisted of the mean of the 12 monthly averages for daily average temperature.

This layer has been multiplied by a factor of 10 (i.e. converted into an integer grid) to save space and make the grids more responsive. A value of 136 is actually 13.6 °C.

Additional details such as the climate station locations used in the creation of the layer and error maps are defined in the attached LENZ Technical Guide.

The hottest average annual temperature recorded at a single location was 32.9 degrees Celsius in Makkah, Saudi Arabia in 2010 and again in 2016. Makkah, also spelled Mecca, sees millions of Muslim enter the city every year. Although 2010 set the record for the hottest year globally on record, the record was then broken several times throughout the following decade. As of 2019, the hottest year on record globally was 2016, followed by 2019.

Temperature in France decreased to 13.01 celsius in 2023 from 13.17 celsius in 2022. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for France Average Temperature.

Temperature in Spain decreased to 15.15 celsius in 2023 from 15.16 celsius in 2022. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for Spain Average Temperature.

WorldClim version 2 has average monthly climate data for minimum, mean, and maximum temperature and for precipitation for 1970-2000. You can download the variables (minimum temperature (°C), maximum temperature (°C), average temperature (°C), precipitation (mm), solar radiation (kJ m-2 day-1), wind speed (m s-1) and water vapor pressure (kPa)) for different spatial resolutions, from 30 seconds (~1 km2) to 10 minutes (~340 km2). Each download is a "zip" file containing 12 GeoTiff (.tif) files, one for each month of the year (January is 1; December is 12).