The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), part of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), publishes The Climate Atlas of the United States. The latest edition is version 2.0, published in 2002.

The atlas is a great resource for climate maps of the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Users can map a wide range of climate data including temperature, precipitation, wind, pressure, mean percentage of visibility, and record maximum heating degree days, just to name a few of the many possibilities. The data are based on the period from 1961-1990.

From the atlas' documentation page: "[The atlas is] comprised of 2023 maps that show the spatial distribution of major climatic elements. The Climate Atlas will serve the interests of commercial, industrial, agricultural, research, and educational institutions, as well as those from the general public. Its primary purpose is to show the normal spatial patterns for a variety of temperature, precipitation, snow, and other parameters."

Users can create and export maps from the CD-ROM and either ArcGIS or ArcExplorer or by using the atlas' online interface via ArcIMS. Both versions have the same data and mapping capabilities.