Overview

The State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) was created in 2006 in response to the need for proper and comprehensive evaluation of meteorological observations which may have tied or exceeded existing statewide all–time record values.  Beyond their intrinsic human interest factor, climatic extremes are an important component of a location's climatology, used for, among other things, quality controlling meteorological observations, setting engineering limits, and helping authorities to develop climate related safety plans.

While similar in function to the National Climate Extremes Committee, the SCEC is an ad hoc committee established to evaluate the climatological records of individual states. When a potential record meteorological value has been observed, it will be brought to the attention of the local National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office or the state's State Climatologist. If, after reviewing the observation, the WFO or State Climatologist feels it is legitimate, they will convene the SCEC for a review and vote on the value.