While the official statistics are not yet in, a preliminary look at the climate of 2023 shows that many stations in the Southeast had their warmest year on record. The map below from the Southeast Regional Climate Center’s Perspectives tool shows the West Coast of Florida and the northern Gulf Coast had the most record-setting stations, but many others across the region were in the top five. The map from the High Plains Regional Climate Center shows that nearly the entire region reported temperatures that were above the 1991-2023 normals. The radar-based precipitation map from NOAA’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service shows that most of the region received above normal rainfall over the year as a whole with the exception of some areas in Virginia, northern Alabama and the Southern Appalachians. Of course, annual precipitation does not tell the whole story since the distribution of rainfall over the year makes a big difference to crops. Excess rain early in the growing season and a long dry spell in fall caused a lot of impacts on crops across many parts of the region.


