Climate Change Chart of Wolf Creek, USA

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +2.25 °C compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted comparison of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average, and it describes mean temperatures rather than daytime highs. The largest monthly increase in that mean occurred in March, with a difference of +4.24 °C. This identifies the strongest monthly increase, not a uniform change across all months.

Changes in sunshine duration

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily sunshine duration had a difference of -0.34 hours/day, indicating less sunshine in the more recent period on this measure. The figure is an unweighted mean of monthly daily-hour averages, not a day-weighted annual total or a description of every month. The largest monthly decrease was in April, with a difference of -0.73 hours/day. In June, the largest monthly increase was only a difference of +0.06 hours/day, so the month-specific pattern was not identical to the aggregate mean.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall had a difference of +0.17 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This unweighted mean of monthly means describes daily amounts rather than monthly rainfall totals, and does not imply that every month became wetter. The largest monthly increase was in September, where mean daily rainfall showed a difference of +0.86 mm/day. In contrast, June had the largest monthly decrease, with a difference of -0.87 mm/day; the opposing monthly changes show why the overall mean should not be read as applying to each month.

Changes in snowfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily snowfall had a difference of +0.03 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted comparison of monthly daily means, not a day-weighted annual average or a monthly total; the displayed difference should be understood at its stated precision. The largest monthly increase occurred in January, with a difference of +3.48 mm/day, while November recorded the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -1.45 mm/day. These month-specific contrasts describe changes in mean daily amounts and do not indicate that snowfall was absent in either period elsewhere.