Abstract:

This dataset comprises a collection of modified secondary datasets that were used to construct the Weather and Climate Profiles for the FloodWise Communities project. The nature and source for each dataset is summarized below. 1. "Climate Trend Graph Data". Contains annual average temperature and rainfall for various regions of the Gulf Coast, regions defined by the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program. Comma Separated (csv) temperature and precipitation data were downloaded for each region from 1895-2021, though only data values from 1950-2020 were used for the Weather and Climate Profiles. These data were used to create versions of SCIPP's Climate Trend Graphs that were bespoke to these Profiles, so that contrasts between regional and city/county-level climate trends in each Profile could be drawn. 2a. "Observations and Projections". Contains annually and seasonally averaged temperature and rainfall metrics for each recruited city/county for the FloodWise Communities project, as available through the South Central Applied Climate Information System (SC-ACIS). Observations from 1991 to 2020 of various temperature and precipitation metrics were extracted, in order to compute an historical average climate state, and an historical average climate change, for each recruited city/county. These data were prepared in csv format. 2b. "Observations and Projections". Contains annually and seasonally averaged temperature and rainfall metrics obtained from an ensemble of the GCM-RCMs that contributed to the North American CORDEX (NA-CORDEX) project. These climate model data were averaged over a Mid-Century (2041-2070) and an End-Century (2071-2100) period, in order to produce a range of projected changes in temperature and precipitation for each recruited city/county. The grid points from the NA-CORDEX's regular grid that were nearest to each recruited city/county were used to compute the same metrics as those using the SC-ACIS data, and saved to the same respective csv files. Each csv file was used to produce a table of historical and projected changes in temperature and precipitation, for inclusion in each recruited city/county's Weather and Climate Profile. 3. "FloodFactor Maps". Contains maps of categorical flood risk for each city/county recruited for the FloodWise Communities project, as produced by First Street Foundation. Permission was given by First Street Foundation to use and modify outputs from their FloodFactor product for the purpose of this project. FloodFactor maps for each recruited city/county were modified by circling properties at particular risk of being flooded, in order to draw the readers' attention to these properties. 4. "Sea Level Rise Maps". Contains maps of flooded land areas resulting from a potential 10 feet of sea level rise, as available in NOAA's Sea Level Rise Viewer. These maps were modified by circling particular areas of cities/counties that would be badly affected by this much sea level rise (e.g., bridges, properties surrounding river deltas, urban centers), again to draw the readers' attention to them. 5. "Severe Weather Tables". Contains tables of severe weather events that affected each city/county between 1991 and 2020, drawn from event summaries available in NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database. Each table contains five specific weather events (e.g., hurricanes, thunderstorms, floods) that had high financial impact, and/or caused many human casualties, within this 30-year period. These tables serve to contextualize the types of severe weather that each recruited city/county has the potential to experience for its respective Profile.

Suggested Citation:

Wimhurst, Joshua, Mark Shafer, Kimberley Channell, and Omar Gates. 2022. Datasets used to construct the weather and climate profiles for the FloodWise Communities project. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/E3X01NH1

Purpose:

These data were used to construct bespoke Weather and Climate Profiles for each of the recruited cities/counties for the FloodWise Communities project. The data consist of tables that summarize historical and projected changes in temperature and rainfall, maps of flood risk to properties and of potential sea level rise, charts of observed temperature and rainfall changes in the broader region surrounding each city/county, and tables detailing recent severe weather events that notably affected each city/county. The overall purpose of these Weather and Climate Profiles was to edify coastal communities of the physical and climatological reasons for their local flood risk, and how this flood risk could change in future decades as a result of climate change. Community leaders, local government officials, and city planners would be example target audiences for these Profiles and the datasets used to produce them.

Data Parameters and Units:

Annual and Seasonal Average Temperature (degrees Fahrenheit), Annual Average Low and High Temperature (degrees Fahrenheit), Average Number of Hot Days and Warm Nights per Year (days), Annual and Seasonal Average Rainfall (inches), Average Number of Heavy Rainfall Days per Year (days).

Methods:

All datasets presented here were prepared from secondary sources: "Climate Trend Graph Data" were acquired from SCIPP's Historical Climate Trends Tool (Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (2022). Historical Climate Trends Tool. Accessed July 7 2021, http://charts.climate.lsu.edu/trends/). These data were used to create charts of annual average observed changes in regional temperature and rainfall. "Observations and Projections" were acquired from SC-ACIS's Monthly Summarized Data product (NOAA Regional Climate Centers (2022). South Central Applied Climate Information System (SC-ACIS) - Version 2. Accessed June 27 2021, http://scacis.rcc-acis.org/), and NA-CORDEX (World Climate Research Program - CORDEX (2022). The North American CORDEX (NA-CORDEX) Program. Accessed June 27 2021, https://na-cordex.org/) via the National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCAR) Climate Data Gateway. These data were used to compute historical (SC-ACIS) and future (NA-CORDEX) changes in the temperature and rainfall climatology for each city/county's Weather and Climate Profile, summarized in table form. Specifically, the NA-CORDEX data (daily temporal resolution and spatial resolution of 0.5 x 0.5 decimal degree) were extracted from 13 of the GCM-RCMs contained within the NA-CORDEX product (CanESM2-CanRCM4, CanESM2_RCA4, EC-EARTH_HIRHAM5, EC-EARTH_RCA4, GEMatm-Can_CRCM5_UQAM, GEMatm-MPI_CRCM5-UQAM, GFDL-ESM2M_RegCM4, GFDL-ESM2M_WRF, HadGEM2-ES_WRF, MPI-ESM-LR_CRCM5-UQAM, MPI-ESM-LR_RegCM4, MPI-ESM-LR_WRF, MPI-ESM-MR_CRCM5-UQAM). These 13 models were the only ones for which averaged temperature (maximum and minimum) and precipitation outputs were available at the desired temporal and spatial resolution. From these outputs, 30-year average temperature and rainfall metrics over an historical (1991-2020), mid-Century (2041-2070), and end-Century (2071-2100) time period were computed, with the future time periods driven by the RCP 8.5 emissions scenario. Ranges of projected change for each temperature and rainfall metric (see datasets for the metrics computed) were derived from the range of changes suggested by all 13 GCM-RCMs, such that the model with the smallest/most negative projection was taken as the minimum change, and the model with the largest/most positive projection was taken as the maximum change. "FloodFactor Maps" were acquired from First Street Foundation's FloodFactor product (First Street Foundation (2022). Flood Factor. Accessed July 8 2021, https://floodfactor.com/). These maps were used to highlight and discuss specific properties (and groups of properties) in each city/county that are at particular risk of being flooded. "Sea Level Rise Maps" were acquired from NOAA's Sea Level Rise Viewer product (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2022). Sea Level Rise Viewer. Accessed July 19 2021, https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/). These maps were used to highlight and discuss area of each city/county that would be at much greater flood risk, or potentially submerged, should climate change result in a sea level rise of 10 feet, the maximum potential global average sea level rise by 2100. "Severe Weather Tables" were produced by drawing from event summaries from NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database (National Centers for Environmental Information (2022). Storm Events Database. Accessed July 14 2021, https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/). These tables were used to summarize the types of severe weather events that each city/county has experienced in recent years, and thus characterizing the extremes of its climatology.

Individual Files: