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A key scientific NOAA resource on extreme precipitation that is widely used by floodplain managers, city planners, civil engineers, developers and communities across the nation will soon include climate trend data.

NOAA's Precipitation Frequency Atlas of the United States (Atlas) provides the statistical likelihood of an extreme precipitation event at a particular location in any given year, which—until recently—assumed a stationary climate. These statistics are the basis for planning and infrastructure design and for communicating the likelihood of extreme events, such as storms that have a 1% chance of occurring.

Recognizing that extreme precipitation and nationwide flood risk are getting worse in a warming climate, NOAA is changing the methodology used to produce the Atlas by factoring the future state of the climate into official precipitation frequency estimates.

With the first-ever direct federal funding for an update, funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will allow NOAA to develop Atlas 15, an update to the NOAA Atlas 14 precipitation frequency nationwide standard, to account for future climate conditions.

"Atlas 15 will become the federal government's new authoritative dataset for the planning and design of infrastructure Americans rely on every day," said Ed Clark, director of NOAA's National Water Center. "With the increasingly complex water challenges facing the nation, Atlas 15 will build upon the foundational Atlas 14 standard and provide an equitable service for all communities seeking to become more climate resilient."

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