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U.S. Climate Outlooks

Description

Unlike traditional weather forecasts that predict daily temperatures and precipitation amounts for an area, U.S. Climate Outlooks indicate how confident forecasters are that upcoming conditions will be above or below what's normal for their region over the period of the outlook.

Color-coded maps indicate categories of forecast conditions, relative to their average norms. Shaded areas on temperature and precipitation outlook maps indicate the probabilities for above- or below-average conditions, with darker colors indicating a higher likelihood for the forecast category.

Learn more about climate outlooks and how to understand them in the Climate.gov article, Understanding NOAA’s monthly and seasonal climate outlooks.

Related Case Studies & Action Plans

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  • Linda Cook, Lane County Emergency Management

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  • Still image from video "Worried About Water? Tracking Climate Assures Supply." Video footage: Kurt Mann

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  • Gene Daniels, Photographer. NARA record: 8463941. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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  • Still image from video "Expanding on the Almanac." Video footage: Kurt Mann