Understanding the Spatial and Temporal Climate Patterns across Northeastern U.S.

Climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and humidity are important drivers of many ecosystem processes and vary over space and time. We know these variables are changing, but exactly how they are changing remains unclear. Although these variables have been mapped for the entire U.S. and elsewhere (by organizations like Daymet and PRISM), there has been less focus on local, more regional variation at a finer scale. Here, a regional climate analysis is being conducted for the northeastern U.S. to explore these climate patterns across the region and over time. In addition, climate variables will be assessed monthly allowing us to look at seasonal changes, in particular how these variables are affecting the vernal window or transition from winter to spring. To do this, a series of multiple linear regressions will be run to explore how topographical factors (latitude, longitude, and elevation) best explain the climate variables (1990-2020 climate averages of monthly precipitation, humidity, and minimum and maximum temperature). Using the relationship between topographical factors and climate variables, spatially continuous maps of the climate variables will be created which can provide updated data for environmental models and aid in visualization and communication. The results will then be compared to the results of a study that followed similar methods using older climate data (1950-1980) in the same region. Comparing the new results to the results of the previous climate analysis will allow us to assess how regional climate has changed, how the patterns may have changed, and possibly uncover local (or smaller scale) patterns not seen before. Understanding how these spatial climate patterns occur and shift can help us better understand how ecosystem processes are changing and may continue to change in the future.