Precipitation - Three-Month Outlook

Colors show where total precipitation has an increased chance of being higher or lower than usual during the next three months. The darker the shading, the greater the chance for the indicated condition. White areas have equal chances for precipitation totals that are below, near, or above the long-term average (median) for the next three months.

Climate scientists base future climate outlooks on current patterns in the ocean and atmosphere. They examine projections from climate and weather models and consider recent trends. They also check historical records to see how much precipitation fell when patterns were similar in the past.

Water managers, farmers, and forestry officials have an intense interest in precipitation outlooks. They use them to help make decisions about water resources, irrigation, and fire-fighting resources. Flood forecasters also use these outlooks. They want to know as early as possible if an area is likely to receive more precipitation than usual.

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 Climate Prediction Center (CPC) produces the source images for monthly temperature outlooks. To produce our images, we run a set of scripts that access mapping layers from CPC, re-project them into desired projections at various sizes, and output them with a custom color bar.