United States Weather Data Sources
About the Data
United States climate data on this website were compiled from the US National Climatic Data Center weather station records referenced below.
Annual and monthly averages are for the years 1981 to 2010. Most other weather data cover records up to the end of 2009.
Seasonal normal daily mean, maximum and minimum temperatures were developed by averaging the season's three monthly values for these measures. Summer data are the average of June, July and August measures. Winter data are the average of December, January and February figures.
The major cities included in the weather rankings represent the 51 metropolitan areas in the United States with the biggest populations, all those with over one million people in 2010, according to the US Census Bureau. A complete list of America's 51 largest urban centers is available here.
Data Sources
Guy King. 2007. The Hottest and Coldest Places in the Conterminous United States. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. 69: 101-114.
J.L.H. Paulhus. 1953. Record Snowfall of April 14-15, 1921, at Silver Lake, Colorado. Monthly Weather Review. Feb 1953: 38-40. Web Page
Met Office. 2007. Fact Sheet No. 9 - Weather Extremes. UK Met Office, National Meteorological Library and Archive. Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. Comparative Climatic Data for the United States through 2006. Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. Monthly State Maximum/Minimum Extremes - 05/01/04. Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. National Climate Extremes Committee. Existing Records. Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. Record Highest Temperatures By State (Thru December 2003). Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. Record Lowest Temperatures By State (Thru December 2003). Web Page
US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, (NESDIS), National Climatic Data Center. United States Snow Climatology. Web Page