After Brief Delay, NOAA’s Atlas 15 Project Moves Ahead

ByNews Editor

NOAA has confirmed that they are moving forward on Atlas 15, both Volume 1 and Volume 2. Continuation of this project is important as NOAA Atlas 15 will become the authoritative source for precipitation frequency information across the United States. The Trump administration had paused contracts for work on Atlas 15 for about a month earlier this year.

Volume 1 will provide a snapshot of current estimates updated to account for temporal changes in historical observations while Volume 2 will provide model-based precipitation frequency estimates projected into the future. When published, NOAA Atlas 15 Volume 1 will supersede the current NOAA Atlas 14 precipitation frequency estimates.

Projected timeline for Atlas 15 completion:

Contiguous United States (CONUS)
The lower 48 states

  • 2025 – Preliminary estimates available for peer review and feedback
  • 2026 – Published estimates available for use and application

Outside the Contiguous United States (oCONUS)
Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Pacific Islands and Guam

  • 2026 – Preliminary estimates available for peer review and feedback
  • 2027 – Published estimates available for use and application

You can find out more about the NOAA Atlas 15 project and a pilot study for Montana that was released in 2024 at NOAA’s website

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