Climatic Temperature Normals

Abstract The published 1951–80 daily normals of maximum and minimum temperatures were prepared by interpolating between average monthly values. This study compares the published normal and 30-yr average daily temperatures in the eastern half of the United States. It was determined that the published normals statistically differ from the series created by using daily data. It was also determined that 1-day persistence is a feature of the daily data. The possibility of climatic singularities as evidenced from the analysis of 30 temperature (1951–80) on selected dates became apparent and warrants further investigation.