Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average, Additional Resolutions

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  data 06/25/2025 08:58:PM
Climate_gov_ Data Snapshots.pdf application/pdf 27.8 MB 06/25/2025 04:10:PM
Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average _ NOAA Climate.gov.pdf application/pdf 1.6 MB 06/15/2025 05:20:AM

Project Citation: 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average, Additional Resolutions. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-06-25. https://doi.org/10.3886/E234241V1

Project Description

Project Title:  View help for Project Title Climate.gov Data Snapshots: Temperature - Global Monthly, Difference from Average, Additional Resolutions
Summary:  View help for Summary This file contains additional resolutions of the same images as in https://www.datalumos.org/datalumos/project/233461/version/V2/view.

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:  View help for Original Distribution URL https://www.climate.gov/data/Temperature--Monthly--Difference-from-average--Global/

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms climate; climate change; temperature
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1850 – 2025 (Monthly images from 1850 to present)
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Data is divided in to folders by image resolution -- kml (zip), small (png), and broadcast (png). Occasionally there may be one image missing in a particular size but available in another size.

Data downloaded from climate.gov on 6/22/2025.

This file contains additional resolutions of the same images as in https://www.datalumos.org/datalumos/project/233461/version/V2/view.


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V1 [2025-06-25]

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