TerraClimate is a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958 to 2015, covering terrestrial surfaces at a spatial resolution of 1/24° (approximately 4 km). The dataset combines high-spatial resolution climatological normals from the WorldClim dataset with coarser-resolution time-varying data from other sources to produce monthly datasets of precipitation, temperature, wind speed, vapor pressure, and solar radiation. Additionally, TerraClimate includes monthly surface water balance datasets using a water balance model that incorporates reference evapotranspiration, precipitation, temperature, and plant extractable soil water capacity. The development of TerraClimate involved downscaling coarser-resolution climate data from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) Time Series version 4.0 and the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) using climatologically aided interpolation. The dataset was validated using annual temperature, precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, and runoff data from station and streamflow gauge records, showing improved mean absolute error and spatial realism compared to coarser-resolution gridded datasets. TerraClimate is available through an unrestricted data repository hosted by the University of Idaho’s Northwest Knowledge Network and has potential applications in ecological and hydrological studies requiring high spatial resolution and time-varying climate and water balance data.TerraClimate is a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958 to 2015, covering terrestrial surfaces at a spatial resolution of 1/24° (approximately 4 km). The dataset combines high-spatial resolution climatological normals from the WorldClim dataset with coarser-resolution time-varying data from other sources to produce monthly datasets of precipitation, temperature, wind speed, vapor pressure, and solar radiation. Additionally, TerraClimate includes monthly surface water balance datasets using a water balance model that incorporates reference evapotranspiration, precipitation, temperature, and plant extractable soil water capacity. The development of TerraClimate involved downscaling coarser-resolution climate data from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) Time Series version 4.0 and the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) using climatologically aided interpolation. The dataset was validated using annual temperature, precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, and runoff data from station and streamflow gauge records, showing improved mean absolute error and spatial realism compared to coarser-resolution gridded datasets. TerraClimate is available through an unrestricted data repository hosted by the University of Idaho’s Northwest Knowledge Network and has potential applications in ecological and hydrological studies requiring high spatial resolution and time-varying climate and water balance data.