Adaptation To Climate Change in Transportation Operations and Maintenance - Technical Staff Briefing

Slide 11 Long Description: U.S. Selected Significant Climate Anomalies and Events, May and Spring 2015

This map of the United States contains callouts describing instances of severe weather events affecting the Nation in spring 2015.

Alaska was record warm for May with a temperature 7.1 degrees Fahrenheit above average. The warmth was widespread with Barrow and Juneau being record warm.

Seven States across the West had a top 10 warm spring. California had its warmest January-May on record, at 5.1 degrees Fahrenheit above average.

The Northeast was warm and dry with drought developing. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island were record warm for May.

The contiguous United States drought footprint shrank to 24.6 percent, the smallest since February 2011. Drought conditions improved across the Great Plains, but remain entrenched in the West. There were more than 400 preliminary tornado reports during May, the most since April 2011. There were 7 tornado-related fatalities.

On May 10, Tropical Storm Ana made landfall in South Carolina with sustained winds of 45 mph. Ana is the second earliest landfalling tropical cyclone on record for the United States.

Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas were record wet for May with widespread flooding. It was also the all-time wettest month for Oklahoma and Texas. Texas was record wet for spring.

Florida had its warmest spring on record with a temperature 4.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Georgia had its third warmest spring.

The average U.S. temperature during May was 60.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 0.6 degrees above average. The spring U.S. temperature was 53.2 degrees Fahrenheit, 2.2 degrees above average. May U.S. precipitation was 4.36 inches, 1.45 inches above average and the wettest month of any month on record. The spring precipitation total was 9.33 inches, 1.39 inches above average.

Please Note: Material provided in this map was compiled from NOAA's State of the Climate reports. For more information, please visit http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/

Return to slide 11.