About the State Climate Summaries

These NOAA State Climate Summaries were originally produced in response to a growing demand for state-level information in the context of the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) and subsequent sustained activities. This 2022 version represents a new and improved summary for each state that provides more up-to-date information on observed changes in climate, including both long-term trends and extreme weather events relevant to that state. The summaries consist of observed and projected climate change information and focus on aspects that are part of NOAA’s mission (mainly characteristics of the physical climate and coastal issues). The NCA activities derive from the U.S. Global Change Research Act (GCRA) of 1990. One of the activities spelled out in the Act is a quadrennial assessment that “analyzes current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years.” These state climate summaries support NCA activities and, deriving from the charge in the GCRA, contain information both on historical trends and scientific knowledge about potential future trends.

While the datasets and simulations in these state climate summaries are not, by themselves, new (they have been previously published in various sources), these documents represent a targeted synthesis of historical and plausible future climate conditions for each U.S. state.

Each summary consists of a description of the historical climate conditions in the state, as well as that of the climate conditions associated with future pathways of greenhouse gas emissions.

All of the original summaries underwent an anonymous review, with at least two expert reviews completed per state. Each state’s 2022 version was revised and reviewed by both NOAA Technical Support Unit staff and the appropriate NOAA Regional Climate Center, as well as, in most instances, by the relevant State Climatologist.