USDA
Forest Service
Pacific Northwest
Research Station
Fire and
Environmental Research Applications Team
Mountain Weather Data
There is a significant lack of weather observations
in the mountains. Multi-agency Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS)
stations function only during summer, and U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) SNOTEL
sites transmit only daily values of temperature and precipitation.
Therefore, hourly winter weather data, especially data on wind and
humidity, have heretofore been unavailable.
This project is processing a little known,
but highly valuable, mountain weather database from stations operated
and maintained by the USDA Forest Service Northwest
Weather and Avalanche Center. Work to clean and make available
historical data from the NWAC network was supported by the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service and USDA
Forest Service Pacific Northwest
Research Station.
The network of stations spans the Cascade and Olympic Mountains in Washington and northern Oregon, and includes 46 individual substations with a unique array of hourly wind, humidity, temperature, precipitation, radiation, and snow depth measurements. The data will be used to initialize statistical precipitation algorithms, verify wind and humidity models, and provide input to a number of hydrological and ecological models. No hourly data have yet been processed in this way so the methodologies developed in this project will provide guidelines for future hourly data processing and may lead the way for quality assurance and quality control work on RAWS data.
- Description of Network
- Data Format
- Description of Quality Control Flagging System
- Sample Applications
- Abstract
- Currently Available Graph of Monthly Data -- sites below:
For
further information, contact:
Dr. David L. Peterson, Team Leader
400 N 34th Street, Suite 201, Seattle, Washington 98103 USA
(206) 732-7812; (206)732-7801 fax
peterson @ fs.fed.us
Customer Comment Card | Disclaimers | FOIA | Privacy Policy | Quality of Information
Your comments on this website are welcomed by Ellen Eberhardt, eeberhardt@fs.fed.us
Dr. David L. Peterson, Team Leader
400 N 34th Street, Suite 201, Seattle, Washington 98103 USA
(206) 732-7812; (206)732-7801 fax
peterson @ fs.fed.us
Customer Comment Card | Disclaimers | FOIA | Privacy Policy | Quality of Information
Your comments on this website are welcomed by Ellen Eberhardt, eeberhardt@fs.fed.us