Highlights
Climate extremes in U.S for April-September was about 35, or 15 points higher than the historical average, making it the fourth highest value since 1910. The Climate Extremes Index (CEI) measures several types of climate extremes like record or near-record warmth, prolonged drought, flooding events, and frequency and intensity of storms like hurricanes and tornadoes. Factors contributing to the ranking: a very large area of the country experienced high temperatures over an unusually large number of days. For the year-to-date, extremes measured by the CEI were nearly 10 points higher than the historical average of 20.
The source article State of the Climate | National Overview | September 2010 .
