Project

1. The purpose of the project is to quantitatively describe the climate of a given location and then to explain the physical factors which produce that climate.

2. You are assigned a U.S. location, and you will extract the monthly normals for temperature and precipitation for the period 1971-2000. A normal is simply a mean of the 30 values for a given month (e.g. all Januarys from 1971 to 2000). See the table at the end of this page for the station assignments.

3. Go to NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals site, select your state, and hit the Continue button. (If you cannot link to this site, go to this alternate site, click on your state, and then scroll through the stations until you find the station that matches your station in name and ID. Record the mean (not max or min) temperature normals and the precipitation normals for each of the twelve months for your station and go to number 7 below.)

4. Now choose either the PDF format or the ASCII format. The PDF format has more background information, but the ASCII format is easier to read. Either choice will give you information for many stations in your state.

5. The first section of data is a table called "Station Inventory" in the pdf file or "State Inventory" in the text file. The table gives you station name, latitude, longitude, and elevation (in feet above mean sea level). Record that data for your station. Also record the station number (first column).

6. The next section of data gives you monthly and annual temperature normals for the stations for 1971 to 2000, and the following section gives you monthly and annual precipitation normals for the stations for 1971 to 2000. Use the station number you recorded from the inventory, along with the station name to locate the station. Record the mean (not max or min) temperature normals and the precipitation normals for each of the twelve months for your station.

7. You will produce a climograph for your station, using the temperature and precipitation normals. See this site for an example of a climograph. If you are familiar with a particular software package for producing graphs, you may use that. If not, you can use Excel to produce your climograph. You will find detailed instructions for producing a climograph in Excel here. If you do not have access to Excel, you may use it on one of the computers in the Geosciences Department Computer Lab.

8. Now you must gather any information (in addition to its position on the globe) about your station that might help you to explain its climate ( e.g., population, proximity to water bodies, etc). The important information should have become clear as the course has progressed. You can use any suitable sources on the web or in books and other publications.

9. You will be required to include at least one map. That map will show the location of your station in the U.S. It would be helpful to also include a regional map which shows features that might have an effect on climate (water, mountains, etc.).

10. The submitted paper will include the following:
    • Station name, state, latitude, longitude, elevation
    • Station climograph
    • A thorough description of the climate of the station (not just hot in summer and cold in winter, for example), based on the climograph
    • Map(s)
    • Explanation of all of the factors which affect the climate of your station as exhibited in the climograph. This should be based on the course material and the conditions unique to your station.
    • Anything else you wish to add.
11. Your grade will depend on the amount of work exhibited in your submitted paper.

	COOP ID	STATION NAME	STATE
Arcusa, Stephanie	474961	MADISON DANE CO AP	WI
Brackett, Robert	202103	DETROIT METRO AP	MI
Caldwell, Kevin	381544	CHARLESTON INTL AP	SC
Cullen, Kathleen	301012	BUFFALO NIAGARA INTL	NY
Diamond, Jesse	050848	BOULDER	CO
Dillon, Susanna	266779	RENO CANNON INTL AP	NV
Draper, Caroline	085663	MIAMI INTL AP	FL
Fallon, Andrew	280311	ATLANTIC CITY AP	NJ
Fallor, Evan	101022	BOISE AIR TERMINAL	ID
Feshbach-Meriney, Aaron	254795	LINCOLN AP	NE
Hansen, Arielle	132203	DES MOINES AP	IA
Hartmann-Russell, Julian	142164	DODGE CITY RGNL AP	KS
Healy, Laura	322859	FARGO HECTOR AP	ND
Hewes, Christopher	166660	NEW ORLEANS INTL AP	LA
Hocker, Christopher	356751	PORTLAND INTL AP	OR
Holmes, Patrick	180465	BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON AP	MD
Horgan, Haley	504100	JUNEAU INTL AP	AK
Johanson, Benjamin	034248	LITTLE ROCK ADAMS AP	AR
Kelly, Michael	215435	MINNEAPOLIS INTL AP	MN
Korn, Lisa	028820	TUCSON INTL AP	AZ
Kossack, Michelle	237455	ST LOUIS INTL AP	MO
Langone, Christina	240807	BILLINGS INTL AP	MT
Lyons, Scott	111549	CHICAGO OHARE INTL AP	IL
Matos-Magrass, David	502968	FAIRBANKS	AK
Ostrikis, James	193821	HYANNIS	MA
Ringgard, Kaila	063456	HARTFORD BRADLEY INTL AP	CT
Ronan, Katherine	090451	ATLANTA HARTSFIELD AP	GA
Stepanova, Cavaille	305801	NEW YORK CITY CENTRAL PK	NY
Stoker, Christopher	045114	LOS ANGELES INTL AP	CA
Strout, Caitlyn	311690	CHARLOTTE DGLAS INTL AP	NC
Urann, Benjamin	331657	CLEVELAND HOPKNS INTL AP	OH
Velez, Marielys	171175	CARIBOU MUNICIPAL AP	ME
Walcutt, Ariel	363699	HARRISBURG CAPITAL CITY	PA
Wells, Brian	026481	PHOENIX SKY HRBR INTL AP	PA