Hydro-Climatological Trends in the Continental United States, 1948-88

Spatial patterns in trends of four monthly variables: average temperature, precipitation, streamflow, and average of the daily temperature range were examined for the continental United States for the period 1948–88. The data used are a subset of the Historical Climatology Network (1036 stations) and a stream gage network of 1009 stations. Trend significance was determined using the nonparametric seasonal Kendall's test on a monthly and annual basis, and a robust slope estimator was used for determination of trend magnitudes. A bivariate test was used for evaluation of relative changes in the variables, specifically, streamflow relative to precipitation, streamflow relative to temperature, and precipitation relative to temperature. Strong trends were found in all of the variables at many more stations than would be expected due to chance. There is a strong spatial and seasonal structure in the trend results. For instance, although annual temperature increases were found at many stations, mostly in the North and West, there were almost as many downtrends, especially in the South and East. Among the most important trend patterns are (a) increases in March temperature at almost half of the stations; (b) increases in precipitation from September through December at as many as 25 percent of the stations, mostly in the central part of the country; (c) strong increases in streamflow in the period November–April at a maximum of almost half of the stations, with the largest trend magnitudes in the north-central states; (d) changes in the temperature range (mostly downward) at a large number of stations beginning in late spring and continuing through winter, affecting as many as over half of the stations. The observed trends in streamflow are not entirely consistent with the changes in the climatic variables and may be due to a combination of climatic and water management effects.