The fields of 2-m temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, downward short-wave and long-wave radiation, net radiation, and sensible and latent heat flux from the ERA40 and NCEP/DOE reanalyses are compared with each other and with other independent ISLSCP-II data sets, where available. There are differences in the climatologies of the different data sets, but generally, they show consistent patterns of the major seasonal anomaly fields. The anomaly patterns are coherent, showing warm, dry seasonal biases associated with reduced precipitation and cloudiness, and the converse. This confirms that major changes in the atmospheric circulation patterns, with the associated differences in surface temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud fields and incoming surface SW and LW radiation fluxes are captured by both reanalyses and the comparison ISLSCP-II data sets.