The paper describes the development of a comprehensive geographic data-base of historic precipitation and runoff measurements for the conterminous U.S. The database is used in a spatial analysis to characterize large scale precipitation and runoff patterns and to assess the utility and limitations of using historical hydro-meteorological data for providing spatially distributed precipitation estimates at regional and continental scales. Long-term annual average precipitation and runoff surfaces generated from interpolation of point measurements are used in a distributed water balance calculation to check the reliability of precipitation estimates. The incorporation of high elevation snow measurements into the precipitation record significantly improves the water budget estimates in some areas and enhances the utility of historical data for providing spatially distributed precipitation estimates in topographically diverse regions. The research establishes a database for continental scale studies and provides direction for the successful development of spatially distributed, regional scale water balance models.