The Regional Climate Center (RCC) Program provides climate services to six regions encompassing the United States. The service provided by the RCCs has evolved through time to become an efficient, user-driven program that exemplifies many of the components that have been cited for effective regional climate services. As operational climate service providers, the RCCs fill three main niches:

• Provision and development of sector-specific and value-added data products and services

• Establishment of robust and efficient computer-based infrastructure for providing climate information

• Seamless integration and storage of non-NOAA climate data with traditional NOAA data sources.

These roles mirror the five major guiding principles for climate services outlined by the NRC. Collectively, the RCC Program mission is rooted in a) user-centric services, b) a range of space and time scales, c) active data stewardship, d) effective partnership, and e) active applied research. These strengths complement the missions of other federal climate service providers and regional and state-based programs such as NOAA's Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program (RISA), state climatologist programs, and National Weather Service (NWS) climate services program managers and local focal points with which the RCCs actively partner.

As decision maker concerns expand to impacts and potential adaptations to changing climate conditions, it is important to ground these changes with the temporal and spatial variations evident in the historical records and build upon existing climate-based decision tools. Addressing the climate challenges of the 21st century requires the infrastructure, outreach, applied research, and operational services that have characterized the RCCs since their inception in 1986.