Bob Henson, Jason Samenow, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON – The official calculation of what constitutes “normal” U.S. climate has been updated – and to virtually nobody’s surprise, it’s a warmer picture than ever before.
On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an updated set of climate averages for the contiguous United States based on the 30-year period from 1991 to 2020, including more than 9,000 daily reporting stations. It refers to these averages* as “climate normals,” and updates them once every decade.
Compared to previous 30-year periods, the climate has turned unambiguously warmer.
