The identification of 10- to 20-year temperature and precipitation fluctuations in the contiguous United States.

Abstract

On a seasonal basis our results indicate that over the past half century the most significant and widespread climate fluctuations for temperature of 10-20 years duration, in terms of standardized departures, have been associated with temperature changes of 2oC or more during the winter and summer seasons. Precipitation fluctuations of 25% of more have been detected for similar durations. A partial analog to the current prediction of climate change due to a doubling of CO2 concentration was also identified, namely, an increase of spring and summer temperature (approximately 1oC) and a decrease in precipitation (20-40%) in the central and northern Great Plains. -from Authors