Climatic Variability at Ten Stations Across the United States

Abstract

Ten stations are chosen for a study of climatic variability in the continental United States, using as the main criteria good geographical distribution, long-period records (since before 1900), and available daily, monthly and annual values of maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation. Regression lines of decadal variances calculated from annual temperature indicate significant trends of variances, and thus variability, at several stations. A slight increase in precipitation variability is evident across the entire region. Analyses of ranked monthly maximum and minimum temperatures reveal several distinct discontinuities in the data. In most instances, station relocations coincide with the discontinuities.