DOI: 10.3886/e233201v1
title: Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - US Monthly Average

description: <b>Q: What was the average temperature for the month?
</b><b>
 </b><b><br></b><b>A:</b> Colors
 show the average monthly temperature across the contiguous United 
States. White and very light areas had average temperatures near 50°F. 
Blue areas on the map were cooler than 50°F; the darker the blue, the 
cooler the average temperature. Orange to red areas were warmer than 
50°F; the darker the shade, the warmer the monthly average temperature.<br><br>

 
 <b>Q: Where do these measurements come from?
</b><b>
 </b><b><br></b><b>A: </b>Daily
 temperature readings come from weather stations in the Global 
Historical Climatology Network (GHCN-D). Volunteer observers or 
automated instruments collect the highest and lowest temperature of the 
day at each station over the entire month, and submit them to the 
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). After scientists 
check the quality of the data to omit any systematic errors, they 
calculate each station’s monthly average of daily mean temperatures, 
then plot it on a 5x5 km gridded map. To fill in the grid at locations 
without stations, a computer program interpolates (or estimates) values,
 accounting for the distribution of stations and various physical 
relationships, such as the way temperature changes with elevation. The 
resulting product is the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Gridded Dataset 
(NClimGrid).

 
 <br><br><b>Q: What do the colors mean?</b><b>
 </b><b><br></b><b>A: </b>Shades
 of blue show areas that had monthly average temperatures below 50°F. 
The darker the shade of blue, the lower the average temperature. Areas 
shown in shades of orange and red had average temperatures above 50°F. 
The darker the shade of orange or red, the higher the average 
temperature. White or very light colors show areas where the average 
temperature was near 50°F.

 
 <br><br><b>Q: Why do these data matter?</b><b>
 </b><b><br></b><b>A: </b>The
 5x5km NClimGrid data allow scientists to report on recent temperature 
conditions and track long-term trends at a variety of spatial scales. 
The gridded cells are used to create statewide, regional and national 
snapshots of climate conditions. Energy companies use this information 
to estimate demand for heating and air conditioning. Agricultural 
businesses also use these data to optimize timing of planting, 
harvesting, and putting livestock to pasture.

 
 <br><br><b>Q: How did you produce these snapshots?</b><b><br></b><b>
 </b><b>A:</b> Data
 Snapshots are derivatives of existing data products; to meet the needs 
of a broad audience, we present the source data in a simplified visual 
style. This set of snapshots is based on NClimGrid climate data produced
 by and available from the National Centers for Environmental 
Information (NCEI). To produce our images, we invoke a set of scripts 
that access the source data and represent them according to our selected
 color ramps on our base maps.

 
 
 <br><b>Additional information</b>
 The data used
 in these snapshots can be downloaded from different places and in 
different formats. We used these specific data sources:

NClimGrid Average Temperature

 
 References
 
 NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Gridded Dataset (NClimGrid)<br>
NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (NClimDiv)<br>
Improved Historical Temperature and Precipitation Time Series for U.S. Climate Divisions)<br>
NCEI Monthly National Analysis)<br>
Climate at a Glance - Data Information)<br>
NCEI Climate Monitoring - All Products
 
 
 
 <br>Source: https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/data-snapshots/data-source/temperature-us-monthly-average<br>This upload includes two additional files:<br>* Temperature - US Monthly Average _NOAA Climate.gov.pdf is a screenshot of the main Climate.gov site for these snapshots.<br>* Cimate_gov_ Data Snapshots.pdf is a screenshot of the data download page for the full-resolution files.<br><br>
description: Data is divided in to folders by image resolution -- full size (zip), small (png) and large (png). Occasionally there may be one image missing in a particular size but available in another size.<br><br>Data downloaded from climate.gov 6/17/2025.