A Guidebook for Airport Winter Operations (2015)

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122 Meteorological data is widely available for most geographic regions across the United States. Because many airports are designated NWS monitoring stations, airport-specific data may be available. The NOAA NCDC provides access to digital historical weather and climate data for numerous monitoring stations through its website at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/ quick-links. Of the accessible databases offered by NOAA, the following two databases provide hourly meteorological data: • ISD, hourly, global database. • Hourly Precipitation Data Publication/Database. A.1 Accessing Meteorological Data through the ISD, Hourly, Global Database To illustrate how to navigate and request data from NOAA’s ISD database, the following steps were required as of the writing of this guidebook: 1. Upon selecting the ISD database within the NOAA quick links site, the database interface will provide an option to select an embedded link to “ISD/CDO.” 2. Upon selecting “ISD/CDO,” the “WMO Resolution 40 NOAA Policy” and terms of use must be agreed to before being directed to the “NCDC Climate Data Online” page. 3. At this point, a “Simplified” or “Advanced” option, with descriptions available of each, can be selected. 4. Assuming the “Simplified” option was selected, select “United States” in the “Retrieve data for: Country” field and then select “Continue.” 5. In the available “Select a State/Province” dropdown list select the state of interest, select “Retrieve for Selected Stations in the State,” and select “Continue.” 6. Select the desired airport monitoring station or closest station to airport. Check the data period of record and, if acceptable, select “Continue.” 7. Enter the desired date range, check the “Inventory Review” box, enter an email address and select “Submit Request.” 8. Access the data through the link in the NCDC email. A P P E N D I X A Accessing Meteorological Data

Accessing Meteorological Data 123 A.2 Accessing Precipitation Data through Hourly Precipitation Data Publication/Database Similar to requesting data from NOAA’s ISD, navigating and requesting data from the Hourly Precipitation Data Publication/Database includes the following steps: 1. Upon selecting the Hourly Precipitation Data Publication/Database within the NOAA quick links site, the database interface will provide an option to select an embedded link to “Hourly Precipitation.” 2. Upon selecting “Hourly Precipitation,” within the “Select Weather Observation Type/Dataset” dropdown list, select “Precipitation Hourly.” Within the “Select Date Range” calendars, enter the desired starting and ending years, months and days. Within the “Enter a Search Term” dropdown list, enter the desired airport code designation or city name. When completed, select “Search.” 3. On the “Search Results: Precipitation Hourly” page, select the desired station and select “Add.” Note that the available period of record is indicated beneath the Station ID. 4. Select the “Cart (Free Data)” icon and then select “View All Items.” 5. On the “Cart: Precipitation Hourly” page, confirm the desired date range under “Select the Date and Time Range,” and make a selection under “Select the Output Format.” 6. On the “Custom Options” page, under “Station Detail & Data Flag Options,” select the “Include Data Flags” and “Date Filter” checkboxes; under the “Date Filter” and with the keyboard shift key held down, highlight all of the years, months, and days of interest; select the “Precipitation” checkbox under “Select Data Types for Custom Output”; then select “Continue.” 7. Enter an email address and select “Submit Order.” 8. Access the data through the link in the NCDC email.