This data set contains a mean monthly climatology for several climate variables averaged over the period from 1961 to 1990, and constructed from a data set of station 1961-1990 climatological normals, numbering between 19,800 (precipitation) and 3,615 (windspeed; see New et al, 1999 for details). The station data were interpolated as a function of latitude, longitude and elevation using thin-plate splines. The data comprise a suite of climate elements: precipitation, mean, maximum, and minimum temperature, frost frequency, diurnal temperature range, radiation, wet-day frequency, vapor pressure, wind, and cloud cover. There are 23 files in this data set provided at 0.5 and 1.0 degree spatial resolutions.