In his announcement, Kelly expressed some uncertainties about certain aspects of the USCRN data, which I would like to address below.
---------------

Kelly:Some of the info is only updated (either at the platform or at the NCDCingestsite) once an hour.  So, for example, wecannot seem to find 5 minute wind mean/max, but only hourly.

Also,there do not seem to be 5-minute winds, but only hourly means, and a single peak gust for the whole hour, rather than for each 5-minute period, the way one would usually do this.  Also, there is scalar speed but no direction (we've never been sure why, because thisis sosimple to add), so the wind roses all come up blank. (Wind, and some of the other stuff, is not a primary measurement ... these are intended as diagnostics of temp and precip calues.)

USCRN:  Wind data have not been transmitted or archived at the 5-min interval during the history of the program.  In addition, wind direction measurements are not taken at USCRN sites. The hourly wind speed observations are not taken at 10 m heights like is typical, but at the height of the air intake to the aspirated platinum resistance thermometers,typically about 1.5 m above the ground.  These data are most useful for understanding wind influences on temperature and precipitation measurements, as Kelly mentioned parenthetically, and they are not really comparable to wind data from other networks.  In addition, infrared surface temperature and global solar radiation are also only available as hourly means or statistics.  In the future, some of these variables may be sampled at the 5-minute rate, but a decision has not been taken on this issue currently.

With regards to data updates, the USCRN station platforms transmit data hourly in three hour blocks of time (redundancy in case of a rare dropped transmission), so true latency depends on the time not only in processing the transmissions, but how far from the beginning of the hour the transmission takes place.  USCRN and USHCN-M are essentially near-real-time platforms, but not real time.
----------------

Kelly:The nomenclature can be tricky and we are trying to come up with asyntax thatapplies to all types of platforms and data recording methodologies.  This is not easy.  Forinstance, we may wish to obtain the longterm statistics (max, min, mean) of the maximum minimum 5-minute mean(oversome defined interval), or some such thing.

The basic temperature is called Mean Temperature (because it is a 5-minute mean).  We cannot seem to find the max and min temperature within that basic 5-minute reporting interval (which is usually what we call Max Temp and Min Temp). So, what is called Max and Min temp are actually *hourly* max and min of the 12 5-minute mean temps.

USCRN: At the individual platinum resistance thermometer(PRT) level, only the 5-minute mean temperatures are retained and transmitted to NCDC.  There is no maximum or minimum for each 5-minute period.  However, a maximum or minimum temperature for the hour is calculated not from the125-minute means, but from a 5-minute window that is moved in 10-sec steps.  Therefore, the maximum and minimum temperatures for each PRT and hour are based on 360 possible 5-minute intervals during the hour. Finally, the official hourly temperature values for a station are derived by considering observations from all three PRTs in a complicated algorithm that also looks at fan speeds, pair-wise comparisons, and other system indicators, choosing the median of the available measurements.
----------------

Kelly:One other thing, for precip, we pull the full precision, and can bin incrementally or in accumulated format, and don't have to worry about 5-minute round off if we don't feel like it.

USCRN:  Fullprecision being pulled from USCRN is tenths of millimeters. In the WRCC product, many decimal places are preserved, related to the conversion from metric to English units.
----------------

Kelly:There are many ways to create an hour from 5-minute data, many ways of creating a day from sub-daily or sub-hourly data, and many ways of creating a month or a year, as well. Our goal is to eventually make this as explicit as possible, and also leave all these decisions to user control.

USCRN:  It is useful for users to have flexibility in calculating accumulated valuesfrom5-minute data.  However, many users simply need an hourly, daily, or monthly value that is provided without need for considering calculation rules.  We will be working with the WRCC to provide the option for users to select the hourly, daily, and monthly values for certain variables as they are directly calculated by USCRN.  For the moment,users may find some small differences between USCRN hourly, daily, and monthly observations and the ones calculated directly by the sub-hourly tool at WRCC.
----------------

We appreciate this effort to move USCRN and USHCN-M data to the user community, including the work done at the WRCC, and hourly USCRN products now available at the MRCC.  We will work to coordinate activities so as to ensure data are comparable through these various portals, and that the user may choose the interface that is most convenient for a given purpose.

Mike Palecki, USCRN

The Annual Meeting of the AASC is held each summer.  The 35th Annual Meeting of the American Association of State Climatologists will be held 12-15 July 2010, at the Embassy Suites,4130 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe, California 96150.

For more information visit
http://www.stateclimate.org/meetings/

NOAA launches www.climate.gov as portal for climate science and services

full article can be found at
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100208_climate.html

February 8, 2010

"Individuals and decision-makers across widely diverse sectors –from agriculture to energy to transportation – increasingly are asking NOAA for information about climate change in order to make the best choices for their families, communities and businesses. To meet the rising tide of these requests, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the intent to create a NOAA Climate Service line office dedicated to bringing together the agency’s strong climate science and service delivery capabilities."

NOAA Launches Landmark Climate.gov Portal

"NOAA is also unveiling today a new Web site – http://www.climate.gov– that serves as a single point-of-entry for NOAA’s extensive climate information, data, products and services. Known as the NOAA Climate Portal, the site addresses the needs of five broadly-defined user groups: decision makers and policy leaders, scientists and applications-oriented data users, educators, business users and the public."

July 2009 - Pennsylvania Weather Recap

After a cool month of June, some hoped July would bring usual summertime warmth to the state of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, for the first half of the month, a stubborn upper-level trough situated over southeastern Canada and the Great Lakes brought persistent below average temperatures and rounds of showers and thunderstorms to the Commonwealth.  Although warmer weather moved in towards the end of the month, July finished well below average temperature-wise.

The month started off on a wet note as an area of low pressure moved from the Great Lakes to southern Quebec.  Rainfall was scattered throughout the state with Reading receiving 1.42â€� (36.07mm) from the1^st-3^rd while Downington recorded only 0.11â€� (2.79mm) in the same time span.  As the system of low pressure pulled northward, dry and pleasant conditions prevailed for the holiday weekend.  The 4^th of July featured a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the 70s throughout much of the state.

As the next workweek began on the 6^th, a weak cold front pushed through Pennsylvania bringing isolated showers to much of the state with the exception of the Pocono Region where 0.66â€� (16.76mm) fell in Hawley. Behind the front, a large dome of high pressure built into the region for the 8^th-10^th keeping conditions pleasant.

High pressure began to creep off the East Coast on the 10^th ahead of an approaching cold front.  In advance of the front, temperatures in the western half of the state reached well into the80s on the 11^th.  This Saturday also featured some severe storms across the Commonwealth associated with the aforementioned front.  High wind reports were common across the central portion of the state and a tornado even was reported on the ground in Northumberland County.  Places in Carbon County received upwards of 2.50â€� (63.50mm) of rain from the storms.

Much cooler air rushed into the state from the 12^th-14^th due to an unseasonably strong Canadian high pressure system.  Well below normal temperatures were common with near record nighttime readings in northwest counties.  Some cool spots included: 40F (4.4C) in Chandlers Valley on the 14^th and 38F(3.3C) in Oswayo on the 15^th. These low temperatures are usually seen at the end of September, not in the middle of July!

 However, these cold temperatures would be short-lived. On the 16^th, a warm and humid southerly flow ahead of a cold front allowed some locations in southern Pennsylvania to reach 90F (32.2C) for the first time this summer.  The hot spot was Shippensburg where 93 was the high temperature.  Rainy weather on Friday, associated with a large area of low pressure, kept temperatures in check for the end of the workweek.  Rainfall amounts were moderate with Latrobe receiving 1.25â€� (31.75mm). The wet weather cleared out for the weekend of the 18^th.  It was cool however, with a high temperature of only 69F (20.5C) in State College, PA on the 18^th.

         The work week of the 20^th began with dry weather across the state but muggy conditions were felt for the rest of the week as a strong southerly flow brought scattered showers and storms to the Commonwealth.  Rainfall amounts were not evenly distributed.  State College received 3.28â€� (83.31mm) while Latrobe only received 0.60â€� (15.24mm).  Some locations in western Pennsylvania received hail on the 21^stfrom a line of severe thunderstorms.  As a low pressure center moved through the mid-Atlantic on the 24^th,more rain and storms occurred throughout the state.

Behind this system, clear skies but humid conditions built in for the weekend as a Bermuda High pumped sultry air along the Eastern Seaboard.  A cold front entered this warm and humid air-mass on the 26^th, spawning scattered severe storms.  A tornado was even reported in Elk County.  The final week of the month consisted of more humid weather and scattered showers and storms. Widespread rain occurred on the 29^th with 2.07â€� (52.58 mm)falling in Dingmans Ferry.  More severe weather occurred in the eastern third of the state with a tornado being reported in Stroudsburg.  Drier weather returned on the 30^th before more showers moved in on the last day of the month.

Overall, July 2009 was one of the coldest on record (since 1895) throughout the state of Pennsylvania.  Temperatures in Harrisburg reached above90F (32C) only one time during the month which is well below average (9 days).  Rainfall was plentiful for much of the state with the exception of the southwestern part.  Erie was extremely wet with 6.89â€� (175.00 mm) while Lancaster only reported 2.69â€� (68.33 mm). In the end, although the calendar said July, the weather on many days (especially during the first half of the month) felt like May.

<]]> http://www.stateclimate.org/news/default.php?event_id=308 Sat, 06 Jun 2009 8:00 EDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOB SKIPPER, DIRECTOR
MAY 22, 2009 MEDIA RELATIONS
MCCONNELL TO OFFICIALLY LAUNCH MESONET NETWORK

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell will officially launch the Kentucky Mesonet network during a Tuesday ceremony in Grayson County.
Sen. McConnell, R-Ky., will join Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell, Grayson County School Superintendent Barry Anderson, John Gordon of the National Weather Service and Mesonet Director Stuart Foster at 9:30 a.m. (CT) at the Grayson County Mesonet site. The site is adjacent to Lawler Elementary School and Grayson County High School off of U.S. 62 in Leitchfield.

The Kentucky Mesonet is a statewide weather and climate monitoring network collecting real-time weather and climate data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction. Data is packaged into observations every five minutes and transmitted to the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU every 15 minutes, 24 hours per day, throughout the year and is available online at www.kymesonet.org.

Currently there are 25 Mesonet sites operational and plans call for construction of 100 stations to be located throughout the Commonwealth. The environmental monitoring network supports a variety of products to serve needs across Kentucky, including agriculture, education, energy, emergency management, engineering and construction, recreation, transportation, water supply management and weather forecasting.

Initial funding for the project was secured by Sen. McConnell through a series of federal appropriations totaling $2.9 million for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

The Mesonet’s first station at the WKU farm in Warren County became operational in May 2007.  The Mesonet has partnered with universities, school districts,

Office of Media Relations, 1906 College Heights Blvd. #11012, Bowling Green, KY 42101(270) 745-4295 Fax: (270) 745-5387 E-mail: WKUNews@wku.edu Internet: www.wku.edu
businesses, farmers and others for site locations. The National Weather Service and media outlets are utilizing the Mesonet data for weather forecasts and reports.

Directions to the Grayson County Mesonet site:
From Ky. 259 south of Leitchfield, take U.S. 62 west approximately two miles. Continue past the entrance to Lawler Elementary School and turn on the next left. The Mesonet site will be on the right.
- WKU - a leading American university with international reach -

More WKU news is available at http://www.wku.edu/news/index.html and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/.
RAS
Mesonet
Mcconnelladv.doc

Committee on Science and Technology
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Energy & Environment :: May 5, 2009

Hearing: Expanding Climate Services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
Developing the National Climate Service [Scheduled]

Information about the National Climate Services testimony, to be given 10am-12pm May 5th can be found here

The 34th Annual Meeting of the American Association of State Climatologists will be held July 7-10, 2009 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is the AASC's first trip to the Wolverine State.

The meeting will be held at the historic Amway Grand Hotel, on the shore of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids.  Please follow the above links for Details and Registration.