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America’s new normal temperature is a degree hotter than it was just two decades ago.
Scientists have long talked about climate change — hotter temperatures, changes in rain and snowfall and more extreme weather — being the “new normal.” Data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put hard figures on the cliche.
The new normal in the United States is not just hotter, but wetter in the eastern and central parts of the nation and considerably drier in the West than just a decade earlier.
Meteorologists calculate climate normals based on 30 years of data to limit the random swings of daily weather, a standard set by the World Meteorological Organization. Every 10 years, NOAA updates normal for the country as a whole, for states and for cities — by year, month and season.