NOAA's 1981–2010 climate normals: a preview

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center is responsible for producing official climate normals of numerous climatological variables every ten years. The primary variables include precipitation, air temperature, and derived products such as heating and cooling degree days. NOAA's official climate normals were last produced for the 1971-2000 period, but the development of the 1981-2010 climate normals is already well underway. The final set of climate normals will be available toward the end of calendar year 2011, allowing all data from 2010 to be acquired and processed. Here, we will provide a general overview of the Climate Normals product, stressing key additions and improvements over the last installment.