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Topics:
US Weather Station
Data | Global Station Data
| Climatologies | Forecasts | El
Niño | Education
| Interactive Web
Pages
Climate
Indices | Snow | Water Resources |
Humidity | Hail,Tornadoes,
Lightning | Hurricanes
| Wind | Crop
Information | Sun and
Moon
Surface weather maps | If you still
can't find it...
Locating climate and weather data and information
Basic weather
station data for cities in the United States
It is generally easy to obtain historic temperature, rainfall and snowfall
information for specific locations in the US. In addition to these
basic variables, it is sometimes possible to obtain other weather
information including humidity and winds. Some stations have hourly
data available though most have daily and monthly only. The places
to check first are:
- The National Climate Data
Center(NCDC):
- They are the major
repository for climate data in the US. Click "product" under
"select data by" and then choose
CLIMVIS. You can download and plot time series of station data
from here. You can also plot maps of a particular variable for one
time. A
complete list of all surface data is available including access
to the
raw daily data. Station data that is more up-to-date can be
found on the Global
summary of the day page.
- NOAA Regional
Climate Centers:
- There are six regional climate centers in the US. Each provides
climate information that is relevant to that particular part of the
country. They are more likely to have esoteric information not
available at NCDC
-
State Climatologists:
- Almost all states in the US have a state climatologist. They
will have access to local climate records, especially those related
to weather events. Some states even have webpages where you can
obtain information and data.
- National Weather
Service
- They have links to the webpages of many of their local offices.
These vary widely in what they provide and are worth checking
out.
Global station
data
These are harder to obtain and some countries don't
even give out their data for free. NCDC maintains data files for
daily and monthly
station data. Global extremes can be found here.
Canadian climate
data is available from the CMC. There are also available global
gridded datasets (computer model and/or observation) which have
values most regions. A good starting point for this data is the NOAA server data
search page.
Climatologies
All of the sources above have some climatology
information. In addition, try the US Climate
Page from CDC, and the Weatherbase and Worldclimate
websites. US state average temperature and
precipitation climatologies are also available. You
can get maps of the US for climatological surface variables (high, low temperature, precipitation, wind and some other variables)
by month at FSU.
Surface Weather
Maps
Historic surface analyses can be obtained either on CD-ROM from
NCDC on their NOAA Chart
Series A/B/C or from the High Plains Climate Center Daily Weather map page for 2002 onward.
Other types of climate related
information
- Climate Indices (time
series):A comprehensive list of time series of various atmospheric and ocean
climate time series is available. Other sources include the
Climate Prediction
Center and
NCAR's CGD Division. Examples of what time series are available include teleconnection indices (e.g. the PNA),
atmospheric time series (SOI, QBO), ocean time series (Nino 3.4) and other miscellaneous
time series such as Atlantic hurricane numbers.
- Snow:
The Snow and Ice Data
Center and for the western US, the SNOTEL data.
- Water
Resources: The USGS
Water Resources Page.
- Humidity and
Moisture: Some of the stations at NCDC have relative humidity data
(daily, monthly). They have also have monthly
information for various cities in a table format.
- Severe storms (hail,
tornados, lightning): The National Severe Storm
Laboratory has a link to severe
storm events and a general severe
weather FAQ. The National Climate Data Center also
has data and publications including a searchable storm
database.A climatological map is available
from FSU.
-
Hurricanes: The
National Hurricane Prediction Center has information on past
and current storms.
- Wind:
This is harder to get. The
National Climate Data Center has wind data for some stations.
In addition, they sometimes list severe wind events in their report
on severe and unusual weather. The NRCS has wind roses
available for select cities throughout the US that show
typical wind directions and speed by month. Climatological
maps are available from FSU.
Additional sources might be a local
NWS office,
local airports and local newspapers.
- Crop
Information:. Check the weekly weather and
crop bulletin (includes last/first freeze dates).
- Sun and
Moon: Times of sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset,
phases of the moon and other astronomical data are available from
the US Naval Observatory data
services page.. Phases of the moon are at the Hawaiian
Observatory.
Weather
and Climate forecasts
Short-term weather forecasts are available through the National
Weather Service. Long-term
climate forecasts are also available including forecasts of
temperature, precipitation and other variables for time periods of
one or more months in the future. A list of El
Niño forecasts is available from the PMEL El Niño
theme page.
El
Niño
There is an extensive amount of information devoted to
El Niño/La Niña on the WWW. For background
information, check the PMEL El
Niño Theme Page, the CDC El Niño
Page and the NOAA El
Niño Page.
Education
A list of sites
that has educational tools and information for a wide range of
levels is available.
Interactive websites
There are many
sites available that allow users to plot and analyze climate
data.
If you still
can't find it...
One of the best sources of climate data and information
is the
meteorological FAQ. It has an extensive listing of weather and
climate resources including links to research data. There are also
other collections of sites including but not limited to university and government
sites, links to data sets at the NOAA Data Server data
search page, and the Yahoo
Weather Links.
Non-web sources include local universities,
libraries, airports, newspapers, TV and radio stations. Books, almanacs and magazines
can be particularly useful. Some specific books include:
- Climate of the States. 2 volume. Gale Research, Michigan, 1980.
- Weather America, Alfred N Garwood Ed, Toucan Valley Pubs, 1996.
- Weather Almanac 2000 Grey House Publishing, NY 2000.
- Selected climate maps of the US. 1977, Dept of Commerce pub.
- Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences, vol 1-6, Holton et al, Academic Press, 200
2.
.
Suggestions for other data
sources
If you know of any good source of climate data not
included in this page, please email me at cathy.smith@noaa.gov.
Thanks!
Topics:
US Weather Station
Data | Global Station Data
| Forecasts | El Niño |
Education | Interactive Web
Pages
Climate
Indices | Snow | Water Resources |
Hail,Tornadoes, Lightning |
Hurricanes | Wind | Crop Information | Sun
and Moon
If you still can't
find it...
NOAA-CIRES
Climate Diagnostics Center
Document maintained by
Cathy Smith
(cathy.smith@noaa.gov)
Updated: Aug 19, 2004 09:27:48 MDT
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/PublicData/data_faq.html
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