Climate Change Chart of Oklahoma City, USA

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Across calendar months, the unweighted mean difference in monthly mean temperature was +1.40 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this summarizes the monthly averages rather than describing daytime maximum temperatures or implying that every month changed by the same amount. The largest monthly increase was in March, with a difference of +2.85 °C in monthly mean temperature, illustrating that the overall mean masks variation among individual months.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall had a difference of +0.06 mm/day in the more recent period; this is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a monthly rainfall total. The largest monthly decrease occurred in April, with a difference of -1.30 mm/day in mean daily rainfall. By contrast, October had the largest monthly increase, a difference of +0.80 mm/day; these opposite month-specific changes show why the small overall mean should not be read as a uniform pattern across the year.

Changes in sunshine duration

The unweighted mean difference in mean daily sunshine duration, averaged across calendar months, was +0.11 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. It summarizes monthly mean daily hours, rather than indicating that daily sunshine changed by this amount on every day. The largest monthly increase was in April, with a difference of +0.59 hours/day in mean daily sunshine duration. In November, the largest monthly decrease was a difference of -0.32 hours/day, demonstrating that month-specific differences did not all move in the same direction.

Changes in snowfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily snowfall had a difference of -0.16 mm/day in the more recent period. This is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a snowfall total. The largest monthly decrease was in March, with a difference of -1.34 mm/day in mean daily snowfall, while the largest monthly increase was in February, at a difference of +0.45 mm/day. These month-specific differences describe contrasting changes in recorded snowfall averages, not a uniform shift across months.