CLIMATOGRAPHY OF THE U.S. NO. 20 CLIMATIC SUMMARIES FOR SELECTED SITES -- 1951-80 These summaries give weather data from selected observation sites in the National Weather Service cooperative observation network. The sites are usually in or near cities which do not have airport weather stations or city weather offices. Because they are not major weather observation locations, their weather data are usually limited to daily maximum and minimum temperature readings, and daily precipitation amounts. The data summarize observations from 1,879 locations that have a population of at least 5,000 persons. The period of record is 1951-80. The climatographies contain: 1. Means and extremes of temperature and precipitation amounts, by month and year. 2. Monthly and annual values of degree days which were derived from the 1951-80 temperature normals for the station. Heating and cooling degree days are given for several base temperatures. 3. Monthly values of precipitation amounts which correspond to selected levels of probable occurrence. These values were derived from the incomplete gamma distribution, which best represents the site's 1951-80 monthly precipitation data. 4. Dates of probable first and last occurrence, during the year beginning August 1 and ending July 31, of freeze-related temperatures, along with probable durations (in days) where the temperature exceeds certain freeze-related values. 5. Monthly and annual values of agriculturally related growing degree units to selected base temperatures, with special values for corn. Growing degree units are often used as indicator of crop development and for classifying regional agroclimates. The daily temperature data used in the construction of the Freeze Data and Growing Degree Units were extracted from a validated serially-complete data base of maximum/minimum temperature observations. Because of this there are small differences between the base 55 and 60 Growing Degree Units and Cooling Degree Days which were estimated values. The file GRO5180.TXT describes the computation of Growing Degree Units. The estimation of freeze probabilities was based on the work of Thom and Shaw, Thom, and Vestal. A date associated with each of the preselected probability levels was computed for the last spring and first fall freeze seasons. Similarly, the number of days associated with the freeze-free period was computed for each probability level. Since these files represent the information in paper summaries, the user is referred to the paper copies of these summaries for further detail about the tables. Paper copies of the summaries may be obtained from the National Climatic Data Center. References: Thom, H.C.S. and R.H. Shaw, 1958: Climatological analysis of freeze data for Iowa. Monthly Weather Review, 86, 251-257. Thom, H.C.S., 1959: The distribution of freeze-date and freeze-free period for climatological series with freezeless years. Monthly Weather Review, 87, 1136-144. Vestal, C.K., 1971: First and last occurrences of low temperatures during the cold season. Monthly Weather Review, 99. 650-652. _____________ | | | FILE FORMAT | |_____________| Each station's data contain 75 lines. The first line is an identification record with station number, name, latitude, longitude, and elevation. The rest of the lines are divided into 5 tables with a total of nine sub-tables. Each of the subtables is identified by a header line with the station and sub-table number. Each line within the table is identified by a leading code field of the station number, table number, and line number. Each line is 131 characters in length. The code numbers for each of the tables and sub-tables are: CODE TABLE # TABLE CONTENTS 10 1.0 Climatological Summary table 21 2.1 Degree Days to Selected Base Temperatures (deg F): Heating Degree Days 22 2.2 Degree Days to Selected Base Temperatures (deg F): Cooling Degree Days 30 3.0 Probability that the Monthly Precipitation will be equal to or less than the Indicated Precipitation Amount 41 4.1 Freeze Data: Probability of Later Date in Spring 42 4.2 Freeze Data: Probability of Earlier Date in Fall 43 4.3 Freeze Data: Freeze Free Period in Days (values of '9999' indicate freeze-free period greater than 365 days) 51 5.1 Growing Degree Units: To Selected Base Temperatures 52 5.2 Growing Degree Units: For Corn STATION IDENTIFIER ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 4 007-010 STATION NAME 30 011-040 LATITUDE 5 041-045 BLANK 1 046-046 LONGITUDE 6 047-052 BLANK 1 053-053 ELEVATION 5 054-058 BLANK 73 059-131 TABLE HEADING ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 FLAG (00 TO INDICATE HEADER LINE) 2 010-011 BLANK 120 012-131 CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY TABLE ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 lines 1-12, 14 of this table TITLE OF LINE 4 012-015 BLANK 1 016-016 NORMAL MAX TEMPERATURE 5 017-021 BLANK 1 022-022 NORMAL MIN TEMPERATURE 5 023-027 BLANK 1 028-028 NORMAL MEAN TEMPERATURE 5 029-033 BLANK 1 034-034 RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE 5 035-037 SYMBOL (+ INDICATES MULTIPLE HIGHS) 1 038-038 BLANK 1 039-039 YEAR 2 040-041 BLANK 1 042-042 DAY 2 043-044 BLANK 1 045-045 RECORD LOH TEMPERATURE 5 046-049 SYMBOL (+ INDICATES MULTIPLE HIGHS) 1 050-050 BLANK 1 051-051 YEAR 2 052-053 BLANK 1 054-054 DAY 2 055-056 BLANK 1 057-057 MAX 90+ 2 058-059 BLANK 1 060-060 MAX 32- 2 061-062 BLANK 1 063-063 MIN 32- 2 064-065 BLANK 1 066-066 MIN 0- 2 067-068 BLANK 1 069-069 HEATING DEGREE DAYS 5 070-074 BLANK 1 075-075 COOLING DEGREE DAYS 5 076-080 BLANK 1 081-081 MEAN PRECIPITATION 5 082-086 BLANK 1 087-087 GREATEST MONTHLY PRECIPITATION 5 088-092 BLANK 1 093-093 YEAR 2 094-095 BLANK 1 096-096 GREATEST DAILY PRECIPITATION 5 097-101 BLANK 1 102-102 YEAR 2 103-104 BLANK 1 105-105 DAY 2 106-107 BLANK 1 108-108 MEAN SNOWFALL 5 109-113 BLANK 1 114-114 MAX MONTHLY SNOWFALL 5 115-119 BLANK 1 120-120 YEAR 2 121-122 BLANK 1 123-123 0.1+ 2 124-125 BLANK 1 126-126 0.5+ 2 127-128 BLANK 1 129-129 1.0+ 2 130-131 line 13 of this table BLANK 28 012-039 MONTH OF HIGH TEMPERATURE EXTREME 3 040-042 BLANK 9 043-051 MONTH OF LOW TEMPERATURE EXTREME 3 052-054 BLANK 39 055-093 MONTH OF MONTHLY PRECIPITATION EXTREME 3 094-096 BLANK 6 097-102 MONTH OF DAILY PRECIPITATION EXTREME 3 103-105 BLANK 5 106-110 MONTH OF MAX SNOWFALL EXTREME 3 111-113 BLANK 18 114-131 HEATING AND COOLING DEGREE DAYS TO SELECTED BASES ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 BASE TEMPERATURE 2 012-013 MONTHLY VALUE (JAN-DEC) 72 014-085 ANNUAL VALUE 6 086-091 BLANK 40 092-131 PROBABILITY THAT MONTHLY PRECIPITATION IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO A CERTAIN VALUE ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 PROBABILITY LEVEL 5 012-016 BLANK 1 017-017 JAN AMOUNT 5 018-022 BLANK 1 023-023 . . . DEC AMOUNT 5 084-088 BLANK 43 089-131 DATE OF PROBABILITY OF MINIMUM TEMPERATURE LOWER THAN BASE TEMPERATURE IN SPRING ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 BASE TEMPERATURE 2 012-013 BLANK 2 014-015 .90 5 016-020 BLANK 2 021-022 .80 5 023-027 BLANK 2 028-029 .70 5 030-034 BLANK 2 035-036 .60 5 037-041 . . . .20 5 065-069 BLANK 2 070-071 .10 5 072-076 BLANK 55 077-131 A DATE OF 00/00 INDICATES THAT THE PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE OF THE THRESHOLD TEMPERATURE IS LESS THAN THE INDICATED PROBABILITY. DATE OF PROBABILITY OF MINIMUM TEMPERATURE LOWER THAN BASE TEMPERATURE IN FALL ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 BASE TEMPERATURE 2 012-013 BLANK 2 014-015 .10 5 016-020 BLANK 2 021-022 .20 5 023-027 BLANK 2 028-029 .30 5 030-034 BLANK 2 035-036 .40 5 037-041 . . . .80 5 065-069 BLANK 2 070-071 .90 5 072-076 BLANK 55 077-131 A DATE OF 00/00 INDICATES THAT THE PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE OF THE THRESHOLD TEMPERATURE IS LESS THAN THE INDICATED PROBABILITY. GROWING DEGREE UNITS TO SELECTED BASE TEMPERATURE BASE TEMPERATURE IN FALL ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 BASE TEMPERATURE 2 012-013 BLANK 1 014-014 CODE (M = MONTHLY; S = RUNNING SUM OF VALUES) 1 015-015 VALUES (JAN-DEC) 72 016-087 ANNUAL VALUES 6 088-093 BLANK 38 094-131 GROWING DEGREE UNITS FOR CORN ELEMENT WIDTH COLUMNS STATION NUMBER 6 001-006 BLANK 1 007-007 TABLE NUMBER 2 008-009 LINE NUMBER 2 010-011 CODE (M = MONTHLY; S = RUNNING SUM OF VALUES) 1 012-012 VALUES (JAN-DEC) 60 013-072 ANNUAL VALUES 5 073-077 BLANK 34 078-131