Ontario Surface Water Monitoring Network: Hourly Rainfall Data from 122 Stations

Ontario's surface water monitoring network provides real-time, automated rainfall measurements. The network, operated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, consists of 122 stations reporting hourly data on a continuous basis. Data is aggregated by Environment and Climate Change Canada and is available under an open government license.

Use Cases

• Modeling watershed hydrology based on real-time rainfall measurements.
• Analyzing rainfall patterns and trends across Ontario based on data from 122 stations.
• Developing flood forecasting and warning systems based on hourly precipitation data.
• Calibrating and validating satellite-based precipitation estimates using ground station data.

Strengths

• Network comprises 122 monitoring stations, providing spatial coverage across Ontario.
• Data is reported in real time with an hourly sampling frequency, enabling timely analysis.
• Operation is continuous, not seasonal, allowing for year-round data collection.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Data access points are listed as 'N/A', which may complicate data retrieval.

Provenance

Source

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; aggregated by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Collection Method

Automated monitoring stations.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-19 19:02:09.902300; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Ontario, Canada.