Using 19th century daily records to examine temperature and precipitation extremes

This study utilizes daily maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation data from approximately 260 stations. The sites, which include data from 19th century records newly-keyed in the CDMP Forts Database Keying Project are used to study trends in growing season length and extreme temperature and precipitation events.

One of the key outcomes of the project is the development of a catalog of extreme events. As part of this goal, this paper will detail of the wettest and driest periods in the United States, both nationally and by NCDC Region. Results will include information on the PDSI and SPI values over different time scales for these extreme periods.