Current and Anticipated Precipitation Anomalies over the U.S.

Topics:

Recent U.S. precipitation departures
Plot accumulated daily precipitation
Links to other observations, forecasts

Introduction

The purpose of this page is to monitor current and anticipated precipitation anomalies over the contiguous United States. Anticipated precipitation anomalies are those which might be expected over approximately the next 2 weeks to 6 months, based on operational or experimental forecasts.

Precipitation, Percent of Normal: Last 15, 30, 60 and 90 Days

Current daily precipitation data used in these plots is courtesy of the Climate Prediction Center (W. Higgins and W. Shi). These plots are updated everyday at about noon (MST), with data through 12 UTC the previous day. Note: the climatology for this dataset is only a 7 year average, 1996-2002. Caution should be used in interpretting these plots in mountainous regions.

Regional Accumulated Daily Precipitation

By clicking at a point on the map below, a line plot of accumulated daily precipitation is returned. Precipitation is averaged over the 2x2 degree box containing that point. The user can specify the start date for the accumulation. The ending date will be the most recent date for which data is available, typically within 1-2 days of the current date.

Return to top

Recent Observations

Monthly Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) maps for the United States (from Western Regional Climate Center, Reno, NV).
Recent surface observations and upper air observations over the United States are contained on related pages.

Forecasts

Forecasts from 2 weeks to 3 months in the future are shown. Long-range forecasts (1 month and greater) are influenced by sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.