Daily North American Snow, Temperature, and Precipitation Grids, 1959-2009

Gridded daily climate data for North America includes snow depth, surface air temperature, and precipitation amount. The dataset spans 51 years from 1959 to 2009, with a spatial resolution of 1-degree latitude by 1-degree longitude. It was produced and published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in snow depth and snowfall across North American watersheds.
• Modeling the relationship between daily air temperature and precipitation patterns over a half-century.
• Validating regional climate models against observed gridded historical data for temperature and precipitation.
• Studying seasonal snow accumulation and melt cycles at a continental scale.

Strengths

• Provides a 51-year continuous daily record from 1959 to 2009, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Offers consistent continental-scale coverage for North America with a standardized 1-degree grid (114 x 58 points).
• Includes multiple key climate variables: snow depth, surface air temperature, and precipitation amount.

Limitations

• Specific column names and the total row/data point count are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: one platform lists 2009-12-31, while another lists a future date of 2026-03 13.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data gridded to a 1-degree latitude by 1-degree longitude resolution.

Time Range

1959 to 2009

Freshness

2009-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

North America