This archive contains daily surface meteorological (METDATA) data for the Continental United States at 4-km (1/24-deg) resolution. The meteorological variables are maximum/minimum temperature, precipitation amount and duration, maximum/minimum relative humidity,downward shortwave solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and specific humidity. The method utilized here combines desirable spatial attributes of gridded climate data from PRISM and desirable temporal attributes of regional-scale reanalysis and daily gauge-based precipitation from NLDAS-2 to derive a spatially and temporally complete high resolution gridded dataset of surface meteorological variables for the continental US for 1979-present. Validation of this data suggests that it can serve as a suitable surrogate for landscape-scale ecological modeling across vast unmonitored areas of the US. For more information visit: http://metdata.northwestknowledge.net/

This archive contains daily surface meteorological (METDATA) data for the Continental United States at 4-km (1/24-deg) resolution. The meteorological variables are maximum/minimum temperature, precipitation amount and duration, maximum/minimum relative humidity,downward shortwave solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and specific humidity. The method utilized here combines desirable spatial attributes of gridded climate data from PRISM and desirable temporal attributes of regional-scale reanalysis and daily gauge-based precipitation from NLDAS-2 to derive a spatially and temporally complete high resolution gridded dataset of surface meteorological variables for the continental US for 1979-present. Validation of this data suggests that it can serve as a suitable surrogate for landscape-scale ecological modeling across vast unmonitored areas of the US. For more information visit: http://metdata.northwestknowledge.net/

The downloadable ZIP file contains an Esri grid. These data were created as part of a graduate thesis at the University of Idaho to 1.) demonstrate that a combination of geographic information systems (GIS) and multivariate statistical procedures can be used to map climate using data from the Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), and to 2). delineate agroclimate zones for the purpose of applying successful dryland agricultural research management practices throughout areas of relative climatic uniformity. No responsibility is assumed by Idaho State Climate Services in the use of these data.,

Weather data were collected by the National Weather Service in International Falls, Minnesota. International Falls is about 80 miles from the SNF, but the weather data is representative of the area. Total solar insolation measurements were made at Fall Lake Dam in Winton, Minn. by Prof. Donald Baker of the Department of Soil Science at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Insolation values were measured using a Yellow Springs solar cell calibrated against an Eppley Pyranometer.

Weather data were collected by the National Weather Service in International Falls, Minnesota. International Falls is about 80 miles from the SNF, but the weather data is representative of the area. Total solar insolation measurements were made at Fall Lake Dam in Winton, Minn. by Prof. Donald Baker of the Department of Soil Science at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Insolation values were measured using a Yellow Springs solar cell calibrated against an Eppley Pyranometer.

These daily weather records were compiled from a subset of stations in the Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN)-Daily dataset. A weather record is considered broken if the value exceeds the maximum (or minimum) value recorded for an eligible station. A weather record is considered tied if the value is the same as the maximum (or minimum) value recorded for an eligible station. Daily weather parameters include Highest Min/Max Temperature, Lowest Min/Max Temperature, Highest Precipitation, Highest Snowfall and Highest Snow Depth. All stations meet defined eligibility criteria. For this application, a station is defined as the complete daily weather records at a particular location, having a unique identifier in the GHCN-Daily dataset. For a station to be considered for any weather parameter, it must have a minimum of 30 years of data with more than 182 days complete in each year. This is effectively a 30-year record of service requirement, but allows for inclusion of some stations which routinely shut down during certain seasons. Small station moves, such as a move from one property to an adjacent property, may occur within a station history. However, larger moves, such as a station moving from downtown to the city airport, generally result in the commissioning of a new station identifier. This tool treats each of these histories as a different station. In this way, it does not thread the separate histories into one record for a city. Records Timescales are characterized in three ways. In order of increasing noteworthiness, they are Daily Records, Monthly Records and All Time Records. For a given station, Daily Records refers to the specific calendar day: (e.g., the value recorded on March 7th compared to every other March 7th). Monthly Records exceed all values observed within the specified month (e.g., the value recorded on March 7th compared to all values recorded in every March). All-Time Records exceed the record of all observations, for any date, in a station's period of record. The Date Range and Location features are used to define the time and location ranges which are of interest to the user. For example, selecting a date range of March 1, 2012 through March 15, 2012 will return a list of records broken or tied on those 15 days. The Location Category and Country menus allow the user to define the geographic extent of the records of interest. For example, selecting Oklahoma will narrow the returned list of records to those that occurred in the state of Oklahoma, USA. The number of records broken for several recent periods is summarized in the table and updated daily. Due to late-arriving data, the number of recent records is likely underrepresented in all categories, but the ratio of records (warm to cold, for example) should be a fairly strong estimate of a final outcome. There are many more precipitation stations than temperature stations, so the raw number of precipitation records will likely exceed the number of temperature records in most climatic situations.

Weather data were collected by the National Weather Service in International Falls, Minnesota. International Falls is about 80 miles from the SNF, but the weather data is representative of the area. Total solar insolation measurements were made at Fall Lake Dam in Winton, Minn. by Prof. Donald Baker of the Department of Soil Science at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Insolation values were measured using a Yellow Springs solar cell calibrated against an Eppley Pyranometer.

Monthly Summaries of Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)-Daily is a dataset derived from GHCN-Daily. The data are produced by computing simple averages or monthly accumulations of the daily observations. The meteorological elements calculated for the data set include, but are not limited to: monthly maximum and minimum temperature, monthly precipitation (i.e., rainfall and snow water equivalent), snowfall and snow depth. Users of these monthly summaries have access to simple meteorological summaries for tens of thousands of stations worldwide.

Monthly Summaries of Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)-Daily is a dataset derived from GHCN-Daily. The data are produced by computing simple averages or monthly accumulations of the daily observations. The meteorological elements calculated for the data set include, but are not limited to: monthly maximum and minimum temperature, monthly precipitation (i.e., rainfall and snow water equivalent), snowfall and snow depth. Users of these monthly summaries have access to simple meteorological summaries for tens of thousands of stations worldwide.

Temperature data were collected from ~40 portable data (temperature) loggers and two weather stations located in central North Carolina, USA during August 2015. In addition to temperature, solar radiation and wind speed data were recorded at one of the sites to estimate the effects of these climate variables on sensor bias.