The Relationship between Precipitation and Temperature over the Contiguous United States

Abstract

The correlation between monthly total precipitation and monthly mean temperature over the 80-year period from 1905 to 1984 at nearly 1000 stations in the contiguous United States was calculated and analyzed. Both local and field significances were tested by using statistical methods. Areas of both negative and positive precipitation-temperature correlations were found. Over most of the United States, summer precipitation and temperature were negatively correlated, which indicates that warm summers tended to be dryer. This is particularly true in the central and southern Great Plains. The area south of the Great Lakes covering the eastern portion of the Corn Belt was the only major area where a significant positive correlation was found in winter.