You will often hear meteorologists compare rainfall, snowfall, and temperatures to what's average or normal throughout the year. These climate normals help scientists and researchers track change across the globe. Climate is not the same as weather! We define climate as the long-term average of temperature, precipitation, and other weather variables over a 30 year period.
With every new decade, a new analysis of different weather variables are calculated and updated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Since we hit a new decade last year, we have now seen the release of those new averages. We have also seen an update in the Atlantic hurricane season averages!
Here in Moline, no surprise, we have seen an increase in average temperatures, precipitation, and snowfall over the past decade. Snowfall was very notable with a 4 inch increase per year!
The United States has been seeing a constant and sustained increase in those temperatures, especially over the past 30 years. Although most of America has seen an increase in average temperatures, that doesn't mean every single spot in the United States has seen substantial warming. The north central U.S. has seen average temperatures slightly cooler or little change in those averages.
We are also seeing trends in more severity on both spectrums of precipitation. The southwest United States continues to get drier, which continues to threaten those areas who struggle with wildfire activity. North central and the eastern half of the United States has seen an increase in precipitation, as we continue to see more heavy rainfall events.
For the Atlantic Ocean, hurricane seasons continue to get more active with sea surface temperatures on the rise. Lately, hurricane season also seems to start earlier and end later as the ocean is staying warmer, too. The Atlantic hurricane season averages saw an increase in named storms and hurricanes, but no change to how many major hurricanes we normally see. The Pacific Ocean's season saw no changes to averages over the past decade.
