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 normals 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 1990, and the following section gives you monthly and annual precipitation normals for the stations for 1971 to 1990. 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 will become clear as the course progresses. 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
    • Decsription of the climate of the station, 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.

	COOP ID	STATION NAME	STATE
Allan,Stephanie E.	028820	TUCSON INTL AP	AZ
Ames, Blair	034248	LITTLE ROCK ADAMS AP	AR
Barker,Zoe Madeleine	045114	LOS ANGELES INTL AP	CA
Bellino,Gregory M.	050848	BOULDER	CO
Blanchet,Michael L.	063456	HARTFORD BRADLEY INTL AP	CT
Bover,Kristen M.	085663	MIAMI INTL AP	FL
Brooks,Daniel M.	090451	ATLANTA HARTSFIELD AP	GA
Bueno,Levi S.	101022	BOISE AIR TERMINAL	ID
Castonguay,Nicholas J.	111549	CHICAGO OHARE INTL AP	IL
Christensen,Michael K.	132203	DES MOINES AP	IA
Clinton,Benjamin T.	142164	DODGE CITY RGNL AP	KS
Covarrubias,Daniela P.	154954	LOUISVILLE STANDIFORD AP	KY
Doyle,Michael P.	166660	NEW ORLEANS INTL AP	LA
Duffy,Benjamin A.	171175	CARIBOU MUNICIPAL AP	ME
Dunn,Caitlin M.	180465	BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON AP	MD
Faucher,Jacob J.	190770	BOSTON LOGAN INTL AP	MA
Fiore,Jonathan W.	202103	DETROIT METRO AP	MI
Ford,James R.	215435	MINNEAPOLIS INTL AP	MN
Frigault,Aimee M.	224472	JACKSON THOMPSON AP	MS
Gass,Kaitlin N.	237455	ST LOUIS INTL AP	MO
Gilbert,Sean M.	240807	BILLINGS INTL AP	MT
Hastings,Andrew T.	254795	LINCOLN AP	NE
Jackson,Karissa L.	266779	RENO CANNON INTL AP	NV
Moran,Patrick J.	280311	ATLANTIC CITY AP	NJ
O'Malley,Mark E.	290234	ALBUQUERQUE INTL AP	NM
Paret,Sara K.	305801	NEW YORK CITY CENTRAL PK	NY
Petrik,Carrie A.	301012	BUFFALO NIAGARA INTL	NY
Ragle,Jeffrey A.	311690	CHARLOTTE DGLAS INTL AP	NC
Raymond,Shelley M.	322859	FARGO HECTOR AP	ND
Reinhalter,Kristie N.	331657	CLEVELAND HOPKNS INTL AP	OH
Shiever,Savannah R.	356751	PORTLAND INTL AP	OR
St Jean,Julia L.	363699	HARRISBURG CAPITAL CITY	PA
Sullivan,Franklin B.	381544	CHARLESTON INTL AP	SC
Tran,Charles Q.	412242	DALLAS-FT WORTH INTL AP	TX