Explanation of Monthly, Seasonal and Annual Climate in the world
Monthly, seasonal and annual features of the world
climate are described with figures and tables of mean temperatures and total precipitation
amounts for the corresponding period. The figures and tables are produced using
CLIMAT messages received via GTS from WMO Members around the world. The
climatological normals for temperature and precipitation are based on the
period 1981-2010.
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Extreme climate events ( for monthly and seasonal climate ) |
"Extremely high (or low) temperature" is judged when monthly/seasonal temperature anomaly is larger than 1.83 times of its standard deviation, and "extremely high (or low) precipitation" is judged when monthly/seasonal precipitation quintile category is 6 (or 0). For monthly climate, stations in extreme climate conditions are plotted in the figure of "extreme climate events (stations)". For monthly and seasonal climate, areas where the same types of extreme climate events are widely seen are enclosed by a curved line in the figure of "extreme climate events (areas)".
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Temperature anomaly ( for monthly climate only) |
The figure indicates distribution of monthly mean temperature anomalies. Contours show temperature anomalies at intervals of 2°C. Hatch patterns show negative anomalies
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Temperature anomaly (normalized) category |
The figure indicates the distribution of categories of monthly, seasonal or annual mean temperature anomaly normalized by its standard deviation and averaged in 5° × 5° grid boxes. The thresholds of each category are -1.28, -0.44, 0, +0.44 and +1.28.
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Precipitation ( for monthly climate only) |
The figure indicates the distribution of categories of monthly precipitation averaged in 5° × 5° grid boxes. The thresholds of each category are 10 mm, 50 mm, 100 mm, 200 mm and 500 mm.
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Precipitation ratio category |
The figure indicates the distribution of categories of the monthly, seasonal or annual precipitation ratio to the normal, averaged in 5° × 5° grid boxes. The thresholds of each category are 70%, 100% and 120%.
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Precipitation quintile ( for monthly climate only ) |
The provision of these figures ends in June 2011.
The
figure indicates distribution of the monthly precipitation
quintile averaged in 5° × 5° grid boxes.
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Climatic Data in the World ( for monthly climate only ) |
The list includes data on monthly mean temperature and monthly precipitation from representative observatories around the world. A mark of "---" in the list indicates no data.
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List of Principal Stations in Extreme Climate Condition ( for monthly climate only ) |
The list includes observatories where extreme monthly temperature or precipitation amounts were recorded. In each 5° × 5° grid box, the observatory with the most remarkable value is selected.
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Frequencies of Extremely High/Low Temperature (High/Low Precipitation)(for annual climate only) |
Frequencies of extremely high/low temperature and high/low precipitation based on monthly observational data for the year are calculated by dividing the total number of the extreme events by the total number of all available observational data in each 5°×5° grid box. The frequency is indicated as the size of a semicircle. If less than 8 observations are available in each grid box, semicircles are not indicated. Since the expected value of frequency is about 3%, grid box with frequency of 10-20% or more is considered as indicating above normal.