Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Version: View help for Version V2
| Name | File Type | Size | Last Modified |
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| data | 06/18/2025 10:53:PM | ||
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application/pdf | 27.8 MB | 06/18/2025 06:41:PM |
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application/pdf | 1.6 MB | 06/18/2025 06:41:PM |
Project Citation:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-06-24. https://doi.org/10.3886/E233461V2
Project Description
Project Title:
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Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average
Summary:
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This upload includes two additional files:
* Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average _NOAA Climate.gov.pdf is a screenshot of the main Climate.gov site for these snapshots (https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/data-snapshots/data-source/temperature-global-monthly-difference-a...)
* Cimate_gov_ Data Snapshots.pdf is a screenshot of the data download page for the full-resolution files.
Q: Where was the monthly temperature warmer or cooler than usual?
A: Colors
show where average monthly temperature was above or below its 1991-2020
average. Blue areas experienced cooler-than-usual temperatures while
areas shown in red were warmer than usual. The darker the color, the
larger the difference from the long-term average temperature.
Q: Where do these measurements come from?
A: Weather
stations on every continent record temperatures over land, and ocean
surface temperatures come from measurements made by ships and buoys.
NOAA scientists merge the readings from land and ocean into a single
dataset. To calculate difference-from-average temperatures—also called
temperature anomalies—scientists calculate the average monthly
temperature across hundreds of small regions, and then subtract each
region’s 1991-2020 average for the same month. If the result is a
positive number, the region was warmer than the long-term average. A
negative result from the subtraction means the region was cooler than
usual. To generate the source images, visualizers apply a mathematical
filter to the results to produce a map that has smooth color transitions
and no gaps.
Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Shades
of red show where average monthly temperature was warmer than the
1991-2020 average for the same month. Shades of blue show where the
monthly average was cooler than the long-term average. The darker the
color, the larger the difference from average temperature. White and
very light areas were close to their long-term average temperature. Gray
areas near the North and South Poles show where no data are available.
Q: Why do these data matter?
A: Over
time, these data give us a planet-wide picture of how climate varies
over months and years and changes over decades. Each month, some areas
are cooler than the long-term average and some areas are warmer. Though
we don’t see an increase in temperature at every location every month,
the long-term trend shows a growing portion of Earth’s surface is warmer
than it was during the base period.
Q: How did you produce these snapshots?
A: Data
Snapshots are derivatives of existing data products: to meet the needs
of a broad audience, we present the source data in a simplified visual
style. NOAA's Environmental Visualization Laboratory (NNVL) produces the
source images for the Difference from Average Temperature – Monthly
maps. To produce our images, we run a set of scripts that access the
source images, re-project them into desired projections at various
sizes, and output them with a custom color bar.
Additional information
Source images
available through NOAA's Environmental Visualization Lab (NNVL) are
interpolated from data originally provided by the National Center for
Environmental Information (NCEI) - Weather and Climate. NNVL images are
based on NOAA Merged Land Ocean Global Surface Temperature Analysis data
(NOAAGlobalTemp, formerly known as MLOST).
References
This upload includes two additional files:
* Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average _NOAA Climate.gov.pdf is a screenshot of the main Climate.gov site for these snapshots (https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/data-snapshots/data-source/temperature-global-monthly-difference-a...)
* Cimate_gov_ Data Snapshots.pdf is a screenshot of the data download page for the full-resolution files.
Original Distribution URL:
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https://www.climate.gov/data/Temperature--Monthly--Difference-from-average--Global/
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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climate;
climate change;
temperature
Geographic Coverage:
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Global
Time Period(s):
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1850 – 2025 (Monthly images from 1850 to present)
Data Type(s):
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images: photographs, drawings, graphical representations
Collection Notes:
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Data is divided in to folders by image resolution -- full size (zip) and large (png). Occasionally there may be one image missing in a particular size but available in another size.
Data downloaded from climate.gov 6/15/2025-6/18/2025.
Data downloaded from climate.gov 6/15/2025-6/18/2025.
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