Absolute Change in Summer Precipitation for Contiguous U.S. National Forests

U.S. Forest Service data projects absolute changes in summer precipitation for National Forests in the contiguous United States. The maps compare historical data with RCP 8.5 projections for the 2080s, using state-of-the-art science. This dataset is part of the National Forest Climate Change Maps project, last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Assessing climate change impacts on water resources based on projected precipitation changes.
• Informing forest management and planning decisions based on future climate scenarios.
• Modeling ecosystem responses to altered precipitation patterns in the contiguous United States.
• Comparing historical summer precipitation with late-21st-century projections under a high-emissions scenario.

Strengths

• Data is produced by the U.S. Forest Service, an authoritative source for land management.
• Projections use the RCP 8.5 scenario, a standard high-emissions pathway for climate modeling.
• Covers every National Forest in the contiguous United States with relevant data coverage.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset size is listed as 0.0 B, indicating limited scope or a metadata placeholder.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for some analyses.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Forest Service, via the National Forest Climate Change Maps project.

Collection Method

State-of-the-art science applied to climate model projections, comparing historical data with RCP 8.5 scenarios.

Time Range

Historical period compared with projections for the 2080s.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-22 03:11:52; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Contiguous United States (CONUS), specifically all National Forests within this region.