Read Surface Airways Data
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NetSTORM can read two NCDC surface airways data formats as formatted by UCAR. It can produce an hourly time series of dry-bulb temperature from 1948-1984 data (TD-14 format as described at the UCAR website) or of any data element included in 1984-2005 data (TD-3280 format, now known as DSI-3280). The output is tabbed  to facilitate transfer to SWMM 5 timeseries, spreadsheets, and databases. The output data are not used elsewhere in NetSTORM. A full description of the TD-3280 format is available from NOAA. The dataset contains first-order stations identified by NCDC WBAN codes. For post-1983 data, the user may select a data type from the list in the program dialog corresponding with these NOAA four-letter codes:

 

Element 

Explanation 

ALTP 

altimeter setting 

C2C3 

sky cover 1st 2 & 1st 3 layers

CC51 

sky condition pre-JUN 1951 

CLC1 

1st cloud layer amount

CLC2 

2nd cloud layer amount 

CLC3 

3rd cloud layer amount

CLC4 

4th cloud layer amount 

CLHT 

ceiling height

CLT1 

1st cloud layer type & Z 

CLT2 

2nd cloud layer type & Z

CLT3 

3rd cloud layer type & Z 

CLT4 

4th cloud layer type & Z

DPTP 

dew point temperature 

DRAD 

direct radiation

GRAD 

global radiation 

HZVS 

horizontal visibility

PRES 

station pressure 

PWTH 

present weather

RHUM 

relative humidity 

SLVP 

sea level pressure

TMPD 

dry bulb temperature 

TMPW 

wet bulb temperature

TSKC 

total & opaque sky cover 

WD16 

16pt WBAN direction speed

WIND 

wind direction and speed 

 

The TD-14 UCAR format (1948-1983) is shown here:

 station   lat  long  elev tz year mon day hr  .........data fields 2 through 44 .......... >

   14733  4293 28126   215  5 1946   1   1  6  7   10 15   40 1 270  16 216 215 213  0  88 10081 2898 0  0 

   14733  4293 28126   215  5 1946   1   1  7  7    9 15   20 1 270  12 216 214 206  0  64 10091 2900 0  0 

   14733  4293 28126   215  5 1946   1   1  8  7    7 15    8 1 293  10 216 215 211  0  80 10098 2902 0  0 

 

 

The TD-3280 UCAR format (1984-2005) is shown here:

type, station, type, units, year, mo, da, s1, s2, #values, hour,   value, f1, f2, hour,   value, f1, f2,

 HLY,   14732, C2C3,    N1, 1984,  1,  1,  1,  1,       3,     ,        ,   ,   ,     ,        ,   ,   ,   

 HLY,   14732, CLC1,    N1, 1984,  1,  1,  1,  1,      24, 0000,   00099,   ,  0, 0100,   00099,   ,  0, 

 HLY,   14732, CLC2,    N1, 1984,  1,  1,  1,  1,       9,     ,        ,   ,   ,     ,        ,   ,   ,   

 

 

The resulting tab-delimited output format is shown here:

;NCDC TMPD data for WBAN station 014732 read by NetSTORM from C:\td3280.dat

01/01/1984          1:00            27

01/01/1984          2:00            26

01/01/1984          3:00            26

 

In the output, hour 0-23 is used through 1983; hour 1-24 thereafter. M following the value indicates missing data; the last good reading is substituted.