Figure 6.4

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI, ERT, Inc
Russell S. Vose, Xungang Yin

This figure appears in chapter 6 of the Climate Science Special Report: The Fourth National Climate Assessment: Volume I report.

Observed changes in cold and heat waves in the contiguous United States. The top panel depicts changes in the frequency of cold waves; the middle panel depicts changes in the frequency of heat waves; and the bottom panel depicts changes in the intensity of heat waves. Cold and heat wave frequency indices are defined in Zhang et al.e6ecbe14-fe1b-46f8-bad5-bde9e4cc658a, and the heat wave intensity index is defined in Russo et al.546ef0fe-bfae-43ee-969e-5870c581e426 Estimates are derived from long-term stations with minimal missing data in the Global Historical Climatology Network–Daily dataset.9b433446-b58f-4358-9737-5a6ccc2f6fcf (Figure source: NOAA/NCEI).

Free to use with credit to the original figure source.

This figure was created on October 14, 2016.

This figure was submitted on October 16, 2017.

References :

• Magnitude of extreme heat waves in present climate and their projection in a warming world (546ef0fe)
• An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily Database (9b433446)
• Indices for monitoring changes in extremes based on daily temperature and precipitation data (e6ecbe14)

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