The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its updated figures for U.S. climate averages, with the “new normal” one degree hotter than it was just 20 years ago. The data also shows the U.S. is much wetter in the eastern and central parts of the country and drier in the West. The rising temperatures mean that places like Fairbanks, in Alaska, are no longer classified as a sub-Arctic climate, but are now considered part of a “warm summer continental zone.”