Here is the place I’ve been looking for, and where I should have concentrated my search in the first place, to see the larger patterns of rainfall, temperature, tornadoes, as against the averages, place by place. This is just one of such anomalies maps available at the National Climactic Data Center (NCDC) at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Others show temperature anomalies, hurricanes, tornadoes. There are reports of all kinds – a treasure trove of real data and put into forms that most of us can understand, including an entire section called Climate Extemes Index

You’ll notice the dark green of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and the percent above normal that color represents.

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I was led to these maps by a good blog called Climate Progress and particular by this posting about extreme weather and acknowledgment of climate change: the Chinese understand; the Brits understand. The US is head in the sand.…