Data 

Climate Services is based upon the collection, 
quality control, and archival of meteorological 
data. High quality and accurate data is 
necessary to maintain the climate record and 
to use the data effectively. 

Data is collected through a system of 
integrated atmospheric, oceanic and 
terrestrial observations. This information 
improves our understanding of past climate 
variations and helps us create more reliable 
climate predictions. 

High quality data is gathered using a variety 
of methods: from the atmosphere via upper 
air releases (radiosondes attached to a 
balloon), from the Oceans using the VOS 
program (Volunteer Observing Ships), and 
over land from surface observations and the 
Cooperative volunteer network. 

Local Cimate Data 

WFOs gather local data from ASOS, manual 
surface observations, AWOS, COOPs and 
spotters. Using this data the WFOs produce a 
series of local data p[roducts: 

• 
Preliminary Climate Data (F-6) is the 
unofficial daily and monthly summary 
• 
Climate Report for the day (CLI) is the official 
24 hour record for a local station 
• 
Climate Record Monthly (CLM) is the official 
monthly record for a local station 
Data from the WFOs can be found at our web 

site: 

www.erh.noaa.gov/climate/climate.html 

Or our intranet: 

www.werh.noaa.gov/Climate/climate.htm 

Daily Weather Map 

Daily weather maps are prepared at NCEP 
(National Centers for Environmental Prediction) 
using atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial data. 

www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/dailywxmap/ 

Archived Climate Data 

All data gathered is stored and archived at the 
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in 
Asheville, NC. 


http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html 

A variety of climate data is available on line. This 
data can be searched by county, geographical 
region, data set/product, or map services. Data is 
free to NOAA and .edu users. 

NOAA offices can view the NCDC databases 
using a variety of methods. 

For upper air inventory and Quality Assurance 
Reports: 

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ua/2004/ 

and 

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ua/reports/ 

For local climate data: 

http://www5.ncdc.noaa.gov/pubs/publications.html 

Username is COOP and password is coopobs. 

For LCD data: 

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/pdfs/lcd.html 

To more easily query the database, NCDC has 
provided the following programs: 

SIRIS – Station Information Retrieval and 
Inventory System. 

This system is to be used to check HPD status. 
There is an MSI (Master Station Index), MSR 
(?Master Station Reports), QAR (Quality 
Assurance Reports). All of the reports can be 
exported into CSV files for import into 
Excel/Quatro Pro, etc. 

http://siris.imcwv.com 

Username: NWS / Password: NWS 
You can also use nws_xxx (where xxx is the 3 
letter WFO ID) 

MI3 – Online Station Metadata Archive Database. 

Part of the metadata integration & improvement 
initiative. This is a station history system (Data 
about data). You need to go through a 
government PC to access. 

http://arachne.ncdc.noaa.gov/mi3 

WSRRD – Web Search Store Retrieve Display. 

Displays document images on the internet in 
digital form. These are the scanned paper 
documents received by NCDC. 

Raw data of the LCDs is found here, and also the 
history of the sites. Most data dating back to 1949 
can be found here (some pre-’49 data has also 
been scanned) 

http://noaa.imcwv.com 

Username: NWS_XXX Password: NWS_XXX 
XXX+ 3 letter WFO ID. Use all caps. 


CDO – Climate Data Online. 

This is data from the NCDC archives. This data 
can be used with XmClimate. 

http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov 

XmClimate – Is a collection of programs and 
utilities designed to provide quick access and 
analysis of long term climate records from NCDC. 
It can be downloaded from the Local Application 
Database (LAD). 

Regional Climate Centers 

The Regional Climate Centers have developed a 
Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) that 
contains near real time climate data for WFO and 
public needs. 


http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/ 

XmACIS – Hosted by the NRCC (Northeast 
Regional Climate Center), will provide near real 
time automated updates of retrospective data to 
match NCDC quality levels. 

Eastern Region WFOs should use the following 

server: 
Primary: http://xmacis.nrcc.cornell.edu/ 
Backups: http://xmacis.srcc.lsu.edu/ 
http://xmacis.unl.edu/ 

An external/public version of XmAcis is available 
for comment at: 

http://squall.nrcc.cornell.edu/~keith/pubacis_nws.html 

Other Links: 

For Marine data: 

http://www.vos.noaa.gov 
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ship_obs.php 

For COOP data: 

http://nws.noaa.gov/om/coop/ 

For Surface data: 

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ops2/Surface/ 

For Upper Air data: 

http://www.ua.nws.noaa.gov 

Contact Information 

Eastern Region Climate Team 
Email: nws.er.climate.team@noaa.gov


Intranet Web Page 

www.werh.noaa.gov/climate/climate.html 

Members 
Heather Hauser (631) 244-0161 
Laurie Hogan (631) 244-0114 
Sergio Marsh (631) 244-0169 
Harvey Thurm (631) 244-0124 


National Weather Service 
Airport Corporate Center 
630 Johnson Ave. 
Bohemia, NY 11716 


Eastern Region 
Climate Services 
Program 
Climate Data 
& 
Products 
November 2004