NWS Daily Climatology and Solar Insolation Data for Minnesota

Weather data were collected by the National Weather Service in International Falls, Minnesota, and total solar insolation measurements were made at Fall Lake Dam in Winton, Minn. by Prof. Donald Baker of the University of Minnesota. The dataset represents conditions for the Superior National Forest area in 1987, with measurements calibrated against professional-grade instruments. It is hosted by ORNL_CLOUD and appears on multiple government data platforms.

Use Cases

• Analyzing daily temperature trends for the Superior National Forest region using surface air temperature data.
• Studying solar energy potential and atmospheric radiation through calibrated solar insolation measurements.
• Correlating precipitation amounts with other atmospheric variables like water vapor indicators.
• Modeling historical microclimate conditions for ecological studies in northern Minnesota.
• Validating satellite-derived solar radiation or temperature data with ground-based measurements from 1987.

Strengths

• Data collection involved calibrated instruments, with insolation measured by a Yellow Springs solar cell calibrated against an Eppley Pyranometer.
• The dataset has cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov, indicating curation and importance.
• Provides specific geographic context for weather representativeness, noting International Falls is about 80 miles from the Superior National Forest.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts exist: the last updated date is listed as both 2026-03-12 and 1987-12-31 across sources.
• No column names, row counts, or dataset size information is provided by any source.
• The specific license terms under 'other-license-specified' are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

National Weather Service (International Falls, MN) and Prof. Donald Baker, Department of Soil Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Collection Method

Weather data collected by the NWS; solar insolation measured at Fall Lake Dam using a calibrated Yellow Springs solar cell.

Time Range

1987

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:07:15.985718

Geography

International Falls and Winton, Minnesota, USA, representative of the Superior National Forest area.