Datasets used to construct the weather and climate profiles for the FloodWise Communities project

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.