Current Events

  • About NCDC
  • Newsletter/Reports
  • In the Spotlight
  • What's New
  • Dividing Line
  • Data & Products

  • Products and Services
  • Find a Station
  • Search by Map
  • Free Data
  • Data Access tools
  • CD-ROM Products
  • Climate Inventories
  • Metadata
  • Help/FAQ
  • Dividing Line
  • Purchase

  • Most Popular
  • Subscriptions
  • Order Status
  • Online Store
  • Dividing Line
  • Climate Info.

  • Research
  • Monitoring
  • Extremes
  • Global Hazards
  • What's New


    Welcome to "Whats New" at the National Climatic Data Center.

    On this page, you will be in touch with the latest that is happening, from droughts to hurricanes, and anything in between. Climatic extremes, Workshops, Hazardous weather, Disaster Reports, you will find it all here.

    Thanks for stopping by! Check this page often, for NCDC updates it frequently.







    Top of Page NCDC NOMADS

    August 19, 2008

    The NCDC NOMADS servers will soon undergo a reconfiguration that will change the way users access data. These changes will simplify and stabilize the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) used across the NOMADS systems; and most importantly will remove the need for specific port numbers to access data. This way future NOMADS systems changes will be transparent to users.


    Top of Page Climate of 2008 - Midwestern U.S. Flood Overview

    July 15, 2008

    Climate monitoring overview of the June 2008 floods in the Midwest U.S. (which incorporates information from NCDC, the NOAA Regional Climate Centers, and other sources).


    Top of Page Climate of 2008 - U.S. Tornado Overview

    July 15, 2008

    Climate monitoring overview of 2008 tornadoes.


    Top of Page Snowstorms Across the Nation: An Atlas About Storms and Their Damages Publication

    May 16, 2008

    A new publication by Stanley Changnon, David Changnon, Thomas Karl, and Tamara Houston. The atlas was made possible by data from a recently completed project which developed 5 datasets about snowstorms (available on cdrom) in the U.S - SnowStorm Data: Long-Term Data Sets About Snowstorms in the United States. The atlas includes information such as the frequency and dimensions of snowstorms, weather conditions and damages associated with heavy snowstorms, as well as descriptions of some recent major events. Information found within the atlas will be useful to those in atmospheric science as well as to design and construction engineers and those who must respond when snowstorms occur.


    Top of Page NREL Releases Updated Typical Meteorological Year Data Set

    May 1, 2008

    The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today released an updated typical meteorological year (TMY) data set derived from the 1991-2005 National Solar Radiation Data Base update.

    The new data sets update and expand the TMY2 data sets released by NREL in 1994. The TMY3 data sets provide greater geographical coverage than previous TMY sets with information on 1,020 locations in the United States, project leader Steve Wilcox said. Only 239 locations were listed in the TMY2 data set.


    Top of Page Integrated Surface Data DVD

    May 2, 2008

    NCDC has completed DVD's of the Integrated Surface Dataset (ISD) for 2006 and 2007 - one DVD per year. The dataset provides hourly, synoptic, and some daily summary data for approximately 12,000 worldwide weather stations.


    Top of Page NOAA/USDA Report on April 2007 Freeze Event

    March 27, 2008

    A joint NOAA/USDA technical report regarding the severe April 2007 freeze event has been placed online. The report includes contributions by the USDA; NOAA's NCDC, National Weather Service, and Climate Prediction Center; and various State and Regional Climate Centers. It describes in detail the event which resulted in over $2 billion in agricultural losses.


    Top of Page Climate of 2008: February in Historical Perspective

    March 13, 2008

    The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.68°F (0.38deg;C) above the 1901-2000 long-term mean for February, 15th warmest on record. Using long-term data from the U.S Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) and preliminary data from the Climate Division Database, the U.S. nationally averaged temperature during February was 34.9°F (1.6°C) which was 0.2°F (0.1°C) above the 1901-2000 long-term mean, ranking as the 52nd warmest on record. On the national scale, severe to extreme drought continues to affect about 9 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of February 2008.


    Top of Page Billion Dollar Weather Disasters Report Update:

    February 8, 2008

    NCDC has updated its report on billion dollar US weather/climate disasters, with five events for 2007, updated graphics, links to special reports, and other information. The report covers the 1980-2007 period.


    Top of Page New Graphical Product Now Online (CDO interface)
    New Graphical Product Now Online (GIS interface)

    January 11, 2008

    NCDC has placed a new product online which provides colorized graphs of Integrated Surface Data summaries, and allows users to generate "climograms" for any worldwide station, for any selected period. Twelve different graphical products are available, such as a ceiling-visibility frequency distribution, a sky cover summary, and a temperature summary. Using the graphical image, a user can quickly see when conditions for certain types of operations or activities are likely to be less favorable or more favorable. Access is via the CDO interface
    (http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plclimprod/poemain.accessrouter?datasetabbv=DS3505)
    or via GIS Services (http://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov). Note: The climograms are available via URL link at the foot of each tabular summary.


    Top of Page 2008 Products and Services Guide Released

    January 11, 2008

    The 2008 NCDC Products and Services Guide has been released and placed online. The Guide was completely revamped from previous versions to better highlight all NCDC online/operational products and services, and include information about the Integrated Data and Environmental Applications (IDEA) Center and the Regional Climate Centers. The URL is: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/inventories/2008psguide.pdf , and the Guide includes over 150 web-enabled links to data and information on NCDC's website.


    Top of Page Climate of 2007: Preliminary Annual Report

    December 13 2007

    The year 2007 is on pace to become one of the 10 warmest years for the contiguous U.S., since national records began in 1895, according to preliminary data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The year was marked by exceptional drought in the U.S. Southeast and the West, which helped fuel another extremely active wildfire season. The year also brought outbreaks of cold air, and killer heat waves and floods. Meanwhile, the global surface temperature for 2007 is expected to be fifth warmest since records began in 1880. Preliminary data will be updated in early January to reflect the final three weeks of December and is not considered final until a full analysis is complete next spring.


    Top of Page Land-based Climate Data and Online Climate Data Directory

    August 29, 2007

    Enhanced Data Directory Pages

    NCDC has recently updated and enhanced two of its web pages: One designed to assist users in finding "land-based climate data", and one as an "online climate data directory". Given the large volumes and types of NCDC's online data, these pages should prove to be useful.


    Top of Page Global Weather Data Sources Web Page

    August 29, 2007

    NCDC recently deployed this web page in connection with ongoing work with an ASHRAE committee. It's a very useful page for users looking for global climate data information and for World Meteorological Organization references.


    Top of Page Updated National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB) now online

    June 15, 2007

    The 1991 - 2005 NSRDB contains hourly solar radiation (including global, direct, and diffuse) and meteorological data for 1,454 stations. This update builds on the 1961-1990 NSRDB, which contains data for 239 stations. The update includes the conventional time series for NSRDB ground stations as well as a one-tenth-degree gridded data set that contains hourly solar records for 8 years (1998 - 2005) for the United States (except Alaska above 60° latitude) for about 100,000 pixel locations (at a nominal 10-km-by-10-km pixel size).


    Top of Page Upgrade of the Quality Controlled Local Climatological Data service: May 2007

    May 1, 2007

    NCDC has combined two of our most popular products into one. The Quality Controlled Local Climatological Data (QCLCD) and the Surface Weather Observation (SWO) products are now included in a single service. Data from the SWO have been incorporated into the QCLCD service, giving users more data values in a single location. Also, the QCLCD now has additional data selection capabilities, to select individual days in addition to entire months.


    Top of Page Global Surface Hourly Data

    March 29, 2007

    Global surface hourly data are accessible again in the Climate Data Online system after a few weeks of downtime due to very heavy system usage. Server upgrades are being implemented to improve the situation. The data are accessible via several URLs:
    Climate Data Online
    NCDC GIS Portal
    Integrated Surface Database
    Online Store


    Top of Page SNOWSTORM DATA - Long-term Data Sets About Snowstorms in the United States:

    January 29, 2007

    SNOWSTORM DATA - Long-term Data Sets About Snowstorms in the United States: (Prepared by Changnon Climatologist, in cooperation with NOAA's National Climatic Data Center as part of a project awarded through the NOAA Office of Global Programs.) This data set includes five databases, each pertaining to different aspects of snowstorms in the conterminous United States during the 20th century. They include:

    1. Point (station) values of snowstorms of 6 inches or more in 1 or 2 days, 1901-2000, across the entire United States.
    2. Descriptions of features of mapped snowstorms for 1951-2000 in the eastern two-thirds of the United States.
    3. Snowstorm catastrophes, events causing >$1 million in damages, during 1949-2000, for the entire United States.
    4. The frequency values of once in 5-year snow amounts, once in 10-year snow amounts and record highest snowstorm amounts during 1948-2000 as based on 1-to-2-day storms, and for the eastern two-thirds of the United States.
    5. Winds, precipitation and temperatures associated with the top ten heaviest snowstorms at selected first-order stations for 1950-2000, in the eastern two-thirds of the United States.

    Top of Page Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Report Update:

    January 26, 2007

    Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Report Update: This report has been updated to reflect the 2006 events - March tornadoes, widespread drought, and wildfires. Though event costs are still being tallied, total losses are currently estimated to exceed $8 billion - a small sum compared with recent years. The online report/web page includes several graphics and maps.


    Top of Page Integrated Surface Data (ISD) Web Site

    November 24, 2006

    Integrated Surface Data (ISD) Web Site: NCDC has completed a new web system regarding ISD, to tie together information about the database and its quality control, data access, ISD-derived products (eg, global summary of day, ISD summaries, "ISD-Lite," wind rose), CD/DVD products, and various articles/papers. ISD consists of global surface observations (greater than 20,000 stations) compiled from numerous sources, into a single consistent format and common data model. It was developed as a joint activity within Asheville's Federal Climate Complex (NCDC, with U.S. Air Force and Navy partners). ISD Version 1 was released in 2001, with Version 2 (additional quality control applied) in 2003. Since 2003, there have been continued incremental improvements in automated quality control software.


    Top of Page Local Climatological Data (LCD) Product for Climate Reference Network (CRN) Sites

    October 2, 2006

    LCD forms are now available for CRN sites, via NCDC's LCD system. The incoming CRN data are now converted to the Integrated Surface Data (ISD) format, loaded into the online database, and available as an LCD form in the same format as ASOS and AWOS sites.


    Top of Page New Services Available in Climate Data Online (CDO) System

    October 2, 2006

    Two new services (available via FTP for many years) are now available in CDO: 1) US Climate Divisional data and 2) Global Summary of Day (GSOD). The climate divisional data (1895-present) also include state and national averages, with temperature, precipitation, 4 drought indices, and heating/cooling degree days as the parameters. GSOD (a product of the Integrated Surface Data--ISD) includes 13 parameters such as max/min temperature, daily precipitation, and snow depth. Data graphing and GIS-based access are included.


    Top of Page
    2002-2005 US Daily Data CD
    2005 Integrated Surface Data DVD

    August 18, 2006

    A 2002-2005 US Daily Data CDROM is now available via the Online Store. This product includes summary of day data for ~ 8000 locations, and updates the 2002-2004 version. Pre-2002 data are still available as a CD set. A 2005 Integrated Surface Data DVD is also available. This product provides global surface hourly observations from ~ 12,000 locations, with over 20 gigabytes of data compressed onto a single DVD. Pre-2005 data are available separately. 2006 daily, hourly, etc data are available online: http://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov


    Top of Page NCDC Updates Report on Billion Dollar Weather/Climate Disasters

    August 18, 2006

    NCDC has updated its report on billion dollar weather/climate disasters for 1980-2005. The update reflects the latest figures and statistics for the 2005 hurricane season.


    Top of Page Monthly Extremes and Dynamic Normals Online

    July 20, 2006

    NCDC has 2 new services (free to all users) within CDO:

    1) Monthly extremes -- 30 products (eg, maximum precipitation by month) which use mostly U.S. data as input. Select "dataset/product" under search options, then select "surface data, monthly extremes" as the dataset, then follow instructions.

    Or -- http://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov - our GIS services provide map-based access.

    2) Dynamic normals -- 19 products (eg, daily cooling degree days) which use U.S. "normals" datasets as input. Select "dataset/product" under search options, then select "dynamic normals products" as the dataset, then follow instructions.


    Top of Page Preliminary Report: Significant U.S. Tornadoes in 2006

    April 18, 2006

    Spring in the southern Plains and Tennessee and Ohio Valleys was punctuated by several severe weather outbreaks producing approximately 500 tornadoes and leading to nearly 50 deaths during March and April 2006. Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year in the U.S., but there is typically a spring and summer peak (March-August) when severe weather is most likely. In 2006, the season began relatively early with significant outbreaks of tornadoes on March 12th, March 30th, April 2nd, April 7th, April 13th and April 16th, with the most notable on March 12th, April 2nd and April 7th.


    Top of Page New Local Climatological Data Product

    April 10, 2006

    A new Quality Controlled Local Climatological Data (LCD) product is now online. This product takes advantage of the new Integrated Surface Data Processing System, with extensive automated quality control applied to all of the data prior to loading into a relational database, from which the LCD is generated. This product is updated on a daily basis, so users have quick access to quality-controlled data on an easy-to-use form. Approximately 2000 U.S. hourly reporting stations are included in the product.


    Top of Page New Normals Product Online

    April 10, 2006

    The Climates of the States product (CLIM60) is now available online. Each document consists of a narrative describing the geography and climate of the state. Internet links to various state and station climate summaries and other weather data are also included in the documents. A total of 13 US Climate Normals products are now online. Also, all of our online normals products are now free to all customers.


    Top of Page CCSP Data Online

    April 10, 2006

    The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) dataset is now online. It includes monthly global and tropical temperature anomaly time series for the surface and several upper-air layers and pressure levels, from satellite and in situ observations, for the period 1948-2004, and covering a vertical range from the surface to the lower stratosphere. They were prepared for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program's (CCSP) Synthesis and Assessment Report 1.1 entitled "Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences," and available at www.climatescience.gov.


    Top of Page Wind Rose Plot and other Features added to GIS Interface

    April 10, 2006

    NCDC's GIS interface (click 'search by map' on NCDC homepage sidebar) now includes two new features:
    a) Data summary classifications, to plot stations by means and frequency distributions of various parameters, such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, etc.
    b) Wind rose graphics showing frequency distributions of wind speed vs direction by station, on a compass-type grid. The service uses the most recent 10 years of hourly data as input to produce the summary in graphical form.

    Select "surface data, hourly global" as the data source within the map interface, to make these products available on the toolbar. These services are free of charge to all users.


    Top of Page US GCOS

    April 5, 2006

    The U.S. GCOS program has been one of the leaders in the global effort to maintain systematic climate observations and the program provides support in three-tiered approach of global, regional, and bi-lateral support. As part of the global support for GCOS, and in response to a U.S. Presidential Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), the U.S. has formulated a Framework for International GCOS Support plan. This plan focuses on the status of GCOS, what is needed to bring GCOS to its operational-design level, and the support needed from the scientific, donor, and host communities to implement selected improvements to it primarily through the support of GUAN and GSN stations, but also via support for the GCOS Lead Data Center at NCDC, the operation of the Global Observing System Information Center, as well as support to selected improvements in the Global Atmosphere Watch. On the regional level, via State Department supported bi-lateral climate agreements with Australia and New Zealand, the program supports the Pacific Islands regional GCOS program; with the Pacific being of critical importance to climate (e.g., source of El Nino) and given the general sparseness of data from this critical climate region, a strong regional program in support of GCOS is a benefit to the global climate observing effort. In the past year the U.S. (via the State Department) has entered into a number of important bi-lateral climate agreements. Specifically, the U.S. GCOS Program Office is involved in funding projects with Australia, China, New Zealand, and South Africa. These bi-laterals cover a wide range of projects dealing with climate prediction, ocean observing, stratospheric detection, water vapor measurements, capacity building and training, and communication of information, and will focus the attention and resources of all these countries towards developing a more sustainable and robust GCOS program.


    Top of Page 1950-2006 U.S. Hurricanes Strikes Poster

    January 13, 2006

    The Continental U.S. Hurricane Strikes Poster is now updated through 2006! This 36" x 27" glossy poster will give you a quick look at the location and strength of each hurricane. The poster includes the name, category strength, year, and approximate strike location of each hurricane.