Daymet Daily Weather Grid for North America at 1-km Resolution

Daymet Version 4 R1 provides gridded estimates of seven daily weather parameters for North America, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The dataset offers a daily temporal resolution at a 1 km x 1 km spatial scale, covering from 1980 to the most recent full calendar year for the continent and Hawaii, with Puerto Rico data starting in 1950. It is produced by NASA and distributed in a Climate and Forecast-compliant netCDF format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term temperature trends using daily minimum and maximum temperature grids.
• Modeling hydrological cycles with daily precipitation and snow water equivalent data.
• Studying surface energy balance using shortwave radiation and vapor pressure estimates.
• Assessing growing season changes with day length and temperature variables across the continent.

Strengths

• High spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km provides detailed local weather estimates.
• Long temporal coverage spans over 40 years for the continent, offering a substantial baseline for climate studies.
• Specific corrections were applied to 2020 and 2021 data to address missing Canadian station readings, improving reliability for those years.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts exist: one source lists a last updated date of 2026-03-13, while another states 2024-12-31, creating uncertainty about the most recent update.
• The exact total data volume, row count, and specific license terms are not clearly specified across the sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Gridded estimates derived from surface station observations, processed annually.

Time Range

1980 to present for continental North America and Hawaii; 1950 to present for Puerto Rico.

Freshness

2026-03-13

Geography

North America, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.