Historical data from 1895 to present for several thousand U.S. stations, with some records extending to the turn of the 20th century. The Midwestern Regional Climate Center provides this collection of temperature, precipitation, drought, and soil moisture data for the nine-state Midwest region. It is produced in partnership with the National Centers for Environmental Information and the Illinois State Water Survey.
Use Cases
- Model weekly corn and soybean yield risk using drought indices and soil moisture estimates.
- Analyze long-term temperature and precipitation trends from station data dating back to 1948 or earlier.
- Forecast drought conditions using historical Palmer drought indices and climate division data.
- Calculate degree days for energy demand modeling from daily high, low, and mean temperature parameters.
- Assess storm impacts by analyzing flood, hail, tornado, and high wind reports from Storm Data.
Strengths
- Long temporal coverage with some climate division data back to 1895.
- Covers a nine-state region with data from several thousand stations.
- Includes specialized agricultural metrics like weekly crop risk assessments and modeled soil moisture.
Limitations
- Geographic bias focused exclusively on the Midwestern United States.
- Specific row counts, sample sizes, and data completeness for individual parameters are unknown.
- Data freshness for real-time components is unspecified.
Provenance
- Source
- Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC), National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Illinois State Water Survey.
- Collection Method
- Combination of archived station observations, research models, and near real-time monitoring.
- Time Range
- 1895 to present, with varying start dates per station and product.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Nine-state U.S. Midwest region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin.