NCDC / Climate-Radar Data Inventories / Locate Station / Search / Help WebCliServ Version 2.5 Locate Weather Observation Station Record U.S. Controlled Stations Only At This Time

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Notes

* Important

Web Climate Services Version 2.1 is an attempt to bring metadata from a number of sources into one location to provide easy access to the information. The system is still young and improvements will be made as resources allow. Anywhere you see an * you can click on it to get more information about the term the * is by. Please see the disclaimer before using information in WebCliServ. If you have questions or comments about this system, send them to ncdc.webcliserv@noaa.gov. If you have questions about where you can find or obtain climatic data, please send those questions to ncdc.info@noaa.gov. Thank you for using WebCliServ.

Automated Surface Observation Stations (ASOS)


The NCDC station history archives do not currently contain ASOS stations. A process has been automated to import these stations into this system from other sources.

Call Sign


The NCDC station history archives do not include international call sign. A process has been automated to identify as many international call signs as possible. A search using international call sign may not locate the desired station.

City


The NCDC station history archives do not include city. A process has been automated to identify city where possible. Cities have been identified in approximately 60% of the station records in the system. A search on city may not return all stations in that city. Example: Cape Hatteras NWS is located in the city of Buxton which cannot be automatically identified.

Cooperative Stations


These stations are identified by a 6-digit number and are part of the National Weather Service's Cooperative Station Network. The first two digits designate a USA state or territory code according to the FIPS standard. The last four digits are assigned to stations within a state in general accordance with the alphabetic order of the station name. A station in this network, as designated by a single Cooperative Station Identifier, can be one site or a series of sites whose locations fall within 2 miles horizontal or 100 feet vertical difference. There are exceptions to this rule, with "climatic compatibility", as determined by the NWS field manager, being the overriding factor.

County


Some records in the NCDC station history archive do not have county identified. Searching by county may not return all stations in that county. Since county names may be duplicated across states, it is recommended that you use the State/County/City option to list stations in a specific county in a specific state.

Credit


The National Climatic Data Center credits Brian Bero (UNC-A Class of 1997) for his work on this system. Brian completed Web Climate Services Version 1.0 as his senior project for the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Brian received the Outstanding Senior Project Award at the annual UNC-A Academic and Leadership Awards banquet. This award recognized Brian's project as the best senior project in the Information Systems track of the Computer Science program.

This project was oringinally supported by a 1996 Department of Commerce Pioneer Fund Award entitled developing "An On-Line Acess/Retrieval System for Agencies with Large and Diverse Databases".

Data Errors


Data errors found in this system should be addressed to ncdc.webcliserv@noaa.gov. Your assistance in identifying any data errors found is appreciated.

Datasets


NCDC has approximately 1000 data sets in both digital and non digital form. Please see the Dataset List for a list of our more popular sets. For additional information on any of our data holdings, contact NCDC.

Disclaimer


The information contained in Web Climate Services Version 2.1 is a "best effort" attempt to provide access to NCDC metadata. The contents of this system cannot be considered as official records. To obtain official records or to verify content found in this system please contact NCDC.

Division


Climate Divisions are standardized regions within each state designating areas of similar climate regime. The number of climate divisions in a state varies from one (Rhode Island) to a maximum of ten (many states). Please note that problems exist with divisions in the Station History Archives. For more information about Climate Divisions and associated problems please see Section 6d of the Master Station History Report).

Elevation


The elevation of the station at ground level. A value of "0" is legitimate (sea level), as are negative values (below sea level). From NWS guidelines ground elevation is generally taken from temperature sensor location at airport sites, and from the rain gage location at other observing sites.

Latitude/Longitude


Up until the past decade, nearly all latitude and longitude values were reported in Degrees, Whole Minutes, and most uses for latitude and longitude information required no higher resolution. In recent years, the availability of Geopositioner (GPS) technology and the demand for more precise location information has increased the precision of these measurements to Whole Seconds.

Period of Record


The period of record indicates the beginning and ending dates for which the station was open. IMPORTANT: The availability of data from any given station is not directly related to the period of record. Many stations do not provide data to NCDC. To determine what data is available for a given station, please check the stations's Data Inventories. Please contact NCDC if confirmation of data availability is needed.

Radar Stations (NEXRAD)


The NCDC station history archives do not currently contain NEXRAD stations. A process has been automated to import these stations into this system from other sources.

Sources


The information found in this system is derived from the NCDC station history archives as well as:
- international call signs from the National Weather Service (NWS),
- cities from the United States Geological Survey (USGS),
- State/County Automated Flood Warning System links from the National Weather Service (NWS), and
- station narratives and ASOS/NEXRAD station information from other NCDC files.


State


Searching by state can return many records in some states. You may want to use other methods to narrow your search.

Station


At the present time this system contains records for U.S. controlled stations only. Plans are to add additional stations in the future.

The name is normally in the format of city name + qualifier, where the qualifier differentiates locations among stations or sites having the same town name (e.g. GREENVILLE 1 SW, GREENVILLE 2 NE). Exceptions to the city name convention include some military sites (e.g. LANGLEY AFB), and certain natural features or private holdings in remote areas (e.g. STAMPEDE PASS, JOHNSON RANCH, CAPE HATTERAS).

Station History Archives


The Station History Archives (see Master Station History Report) contain information about the present and historical names, identifiers, and locations of approximately 30,000 stations. These stations are located on all continents, but most (>95%) are USA sites. This data base contains information for all stations, including those having either digital or non-digital data archived at the NCDC.

The Master Station History Report (MSHR) data set is updated monthly by the NCDC Data Base Management Branch as part of the Station History Information Processing System (SHIPS).

Station Type


A loose station classification scheme for non-Cooperative network stations based on NWS, Department of Defense (DOD) and NCDC past and present schemes. The intent of depicting station types is to inform the user of the general nature of a given station.

The following is a list of station types and their descriptions:

Type	Description
A	Aviation and cooperative-a
AAB	Army Air Base
AAF	Army Air Field
AAFB	Auxiliary Air Force Base
AC	Cooperative Aviation (NWS)
ACW	Aircraft Control and Warning
AF	Air Force
AFB	Air Force Base
AFS	Air Force Station
AFWB	Air Force and Weather Bureau
AMOS	AutoMated Observing Station
ANG	Air National Guard
ASC	Army Signal Corps
ASOS	Automated Surface Observation System
ASOS-EXP	ASOS Expanded
ASOS-FAA	ASOS Federal Aviation Administration
AUTO	(undocumented)
AUTOB	Automated meteorological observing station (AMOS, RAMOS, or AUTOB)
AWOS	Airway Weather Observation
AWOS-1	(undocumented)
AWOS-3	(undocumented)
AWS	(undocumented)
B	Basic contract
C-MAN	Coastal-Marine Automated Network
CAA	Civilian Aeronautics Administration
CG	Coast Guard
CO	carbon monoxide
CO2	carbon dioxide
COOP	COOPerative station
COOP-A	(undocumented)
EMSU	Environmental Meteorological Support Unit
FAA	Federal Aviation Administration
FSS	Flight Service Station
FSS-AID	(undocumented)
HRLY	(undocumented)
LAWRS	Limited Aviation Weather Reporting Station
MARS	Marine Reporting Station
MCAF	Marine Corps Air Facility
MCAS	Marine Corps Air Station
NAAF	Naval Auxiliary Air Facility
NAAS	Naval Auxiliary Air Station
NAF	Naval Air Facility
NAS	Naval Air Station
NAVY	Navy
NEXRAD	NEXt generation RADar
NF	Naval Facility
NHC	National Hurricane Center
NS	Naval Station
RADIATION	(undocumented)
RAMOS	automated meteorological observing station (AMOS, RAMOS, or AUTOB)
S	Synoptic reports (NWS)
SA	Synoptic and Aviation Reports (NWS)
SAWRS	Supplementary Airways Reporting Station
SC	Cooperative Synoptic
SPL	Special
SURFRAD	(undocumented)
SWOP	Shared Weather Observation Program
SYNOPTIC	(undocumented)
SYNP	(undocumented)
U-A	Upper Air
WBAS	Weather Bureau Airport Station
WBFO	Weather Bureau Forecast Office
WBMO	Weather Bureau Meteorological Observatory WBO Weather Bureau Office
WBRO	Weather Bureau Regional Office
WBSF	(undocumented, probably Weather Bureau Support Facility)
WBRS	Weather Bureau Research Station
WSCMO	Weather Service Contract Meteorological Observatory
WSFO	Weather Service Forecast Office
WSMO	Weather Service Meteorological Observatory
WSO	Weather Service Office
WSO-AG	(undocumented, probably Weather Service Office with Agricultural responsibilities)
WSSF	Weather Service Support Facility

WBAN ID Numbers


A five-digit station identifier used at NCDC for digital data storage and general station identification purposes. WBAN is an acronym, invented in the 1950's, which stands for Weather-Bureau-Army-Navy. WBAN station numbers were first used as identifiers for stations reporting meteorological observations on the then-standard WBAN series of forms (e.g. WBAN 10A, 10B, and 10C).

WBAN numbers were the first major attempt at a coordinated station numbering scheme among several weather reporting authorities. Original participants in the WBAN number plans were the United States Weather Bureau, Air Force, Navy, and Army; the Canadian Department of Transportation; and certain German and Korean stations in close cooperation with the US Weather Services.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ID Numbers


A five-digit station identifier assigned by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), used for international weather data exchange and station documentation. The authoritative documentation of the WMO Station Identifier is the publication: Volume A, Observing Stations, WMO - No. 9, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva Switzerland (issued periodically).

Some, but not all, WMO station identifiers are contained in this data set report (generally, for the approximately 300 US NWS first order stations). Dates associated with the WMO station identifier are unreliable. Information from the WMO Volume A publication has not been routinely incorporated into the NCDC station history data base.

Zip Code


The NCDC station history archives do not include city or zip code. A process has been automated to identify city where possible and to provide search capabilities by zip code. Cities have been identified in approximately 60% of the station records in the system. A search on zip code may not return all stations in that city. Example: Cape Hatteras NWS is located in the city of Buxton which cannot be automatically identified.

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