Climate Change Chart of Topeka, USA

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.54 °C in the more recent period; this unweighted mean summarizes the monthly averages and is not a day-weighted annual temperature or a measure of daytime highs. The strongest monthly increase was in March, at a difference of +2.77 °C. By contrast, October had the largest monthly decrease, with a difference of -0.28 °C. These month-specific differences show that the comparison was not uniform across the calendar, and they do not establish a continuous trend between the reference periods.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall had an unweighted difference across calendar-month averages of -0.49 mm/day. This summarizes daily mean amounts by month, not monthly snowfall totals. The largest monthly decrease was in March, with a difference of -2.61 mm/day; the largest monthly increase, in May, was a difference of +0.03 mm/day. The contrast between these monthly differences and the overall average means snowfall differences were not uniform across the calendar. These recorded differences do not imply snowfall was absent in either period in months with smaller or unchanged displayed values.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, rather than monthly rainfall totals, had an unweighted difference across calendar-month averages of +0.12 mm/day. The largest monthly increase occurred in July, with a difference of +1.03 mm/day, while June recorded the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -1.61 mm/day. The opposing month-specific differences illustrate why the overall average should not be read as a description of every month; the comparison reports differences between reference periods, not a continuous change over time.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months had a difference of +0.13 hours/day between the reference periods. This is an unweighted summary of monthly mean daily hours, not a day-weighted annual total. The largest monthly increase was in June, at a difference of +1.24 hours/day, whereas July had the largest monthly decrease, with a difference of -0.39 hours/day. Thus the aggregate increase does not mean that sunshine duration increased in every month, nor does this two-period comparison describe a continuous trend.