example: Using Monthly Station Weather Data

Using Monthly Station Weather Data

There are three steps to using station weather data:

Pick a station,
Pick a variable, and
viewing or downloading.

Pick a station

First we pick a dataset: NOAA NCDC GCPS MONTHLY STATION. This dataset has monthly temperature and precipitation until Dec 1995 from as early as 1697.

Now we are at NOAA NCDC MONTHLY STATION, and we have a map of data locations. There are a number of ways to select among the 10000 stations on the map.

If you click on that map at the spot you are interested in, you get the nearest station. You also get a link to a list of all the stations in the current view. (The list follows the map; if you change the domain size the map will change to be centered on the point you picked and it will be more focussed). To focus the map on a particular area, enter the longitude/latitude limits in the four boxes, and click redraw, or use the 'Zoom' menu to select x2 or x4 and click on the spot of the map you want to center upon (repeated zooming can get you here, for example). You can then choose to label the points (like this by changing 'no labels' to 'Name'.)
If you click on Searches, you get a form that lets you search on any or all of the station characteristics: name, country, elevation, latitude, longitude. The latitude/longitude search is the same as zooming in on the map (above).

Now go to the list of stations in current view. Pick a station from the list by clicking on the name, in this case NEW HAVEN/TWEED.

Viewing the data

To get a manipulatable view of the data, choose

Pick a variable

Alternatively, from NEW HAVEN/TWEED we can make choices to download data.

Variables are organized into an outline, so that one may have to go through several levels to get an actual variable. Let's pick mean and then temp.

Pick a data table format

Suppose you want spreadsheet formatted data. There is a table of options across the top of the page, choose Data Files. There are number of formats available, but Columnar Table is what you want.

I would suggest also reading some of the questions in the questions and answers section: there are several examples of getting the monthly data for a particular station (the Bend, OR example is close, as is the following Newport RI, and Glenn's questions.) Again, you should look at the answers to the earlier questions: there are other useful options along the way.

Benno