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Meteorological Station Location Information
(Observation Sites)

Search for Station Information

You can search for information about a specific meteorological observing location on our station information page.

A Word ( or two ) About Identifying Stations

Meteorological stations may be identified in three ways:
  1. a station index number, assigned by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
  2. a location indicator, assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for four letter indicators or,
  3. a location indicator, assigned by the U. S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for three letter identifiers.
At least one of these type of identifier is associated with each station. A large number of stations have both an index number and a location indicator assigned to them.

Information about ICAO Identifiers

A current list of ICAO (4-letter) location indicators is found in the ICAO publication "Location Indicators" (7910) which may be obtained from:

      Document Sales Unit
      International Civil Aviation Organization
      1000 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 400
      Montreal, Quebec
      Canada H3A 2R2
      Telephone: (514) 285-8219
      Telex: 05-24513
      Fax: (514) 288-4772
      Sitatex: YULCAYA

Information about FAA Identifiers

A current list of FAA (3-letter) location indicators is found in the FAA publication "Location Identifiers" (7350.6) which may be obtained from:

      Superintendent of Documents
      Government Printing Office
      Washington, D.C. U.S.A. 20402

Information about station index numbers

Information on the WMO system of a station index number is reproduced in part below. The following is taken from the WMO Manual On Codes, WMO No. 306.

SYSTEM OF STATION INDEX NUMBERS

Meteorological observing stations

A station index number in the form IIiii is included in the reports of meteorological observations made at land meteorological station of aboard lightships using land code forms. This group permits the identification of the meteorological station at which the observation has been made.

The station index number is composed of the block number (II) and the station number (iii).

The block number defines the area in which the reporting station is situated. The station index numbers have been allocated as follows:

Region I: Africa
60000-69999
Region II: Asia 20000-20099
20200-21999
23000-25999
28000-32999
35000-36999
38000-39999
40350-48599
48800-49999
50000-59999

Region III: South America
80000-88999

Region IV: North and Central America
70000-79999

Region V: South-West Pacific
48600-48799
90000-98999

Region VI: Europe
00000-19999
20100-20199
22000-22999
26000-27999
33000-34999
37000-37999
40000-40349

Stations in The Antarctic
89000-89999

The IIiii Structure

The II or block number is allocated to the services within each Region by regional agreement.

Station numbers iii corresponding to a common block number (II) except 89 are usually distributed so that the zone covered by a block number is divided into horizontal strips; e.g. one of several degrees of latitude. Where possible, station numbers within each strip increase from west to east and the first figure of the 3-figure station number increases from north to south.

Station index numbers for station in the Antarctic are allocated by the Secretary-General in accordance with the following scheme:

  • Each station has an international number 89xxy, where xx indicated the nearest 10 degree meridian which is numerically lower than the station longitude. For east longitudes, 50 is added; e.g. 89124 indicated a station between 120 degrees and 130 degrees west and 89654 indicates a station between longitudes 150 degrees and 160 degrees east. The figure "y" is allocated roughly according to the latitude of the station with "y" increasing towards the south.
  • For station for which an international numbers are no longer available within the above scheme, the algorithm will be expanded by adding 20 to xx for west longitudes (range of index numbers 200-380) and 70 for east longitudes (range of index numbers 700-880) to provide new index numbers.
  • Antarctic station which held numbers before the introduction of this scheme in 1957 retain their previously allocated index numbers.
  • Station index numbers consisting of one figure repeated five times, e.g. 55555, 77777, etc., or ending with 0000 or 9999, or duplicating special code indicators, e.g. 10001, 77744, 19191, 89998, etc., are not assigned to meteorological stations.
NOTE: The general list of station index numbers is published by the WMO Secretariat in a separate volume (Volume A of publication WMO - No. 9). (see the WMO page for further information).


Location Information

Downloadable files containing station information are available here in two forms.

Keyed by Index (Block and Station) Number
Last Updated

All stations that have an index number assigned by the WMO are available in this file. The ASCII file contains the following fields in the order specified, delimited by semi-colons. Fields that are empty will be coded as no characters (adjacent delimiters) except where otherwise noted.

Block Number 2 digits representing the WMO-assigned block.
Station Number 3 digits representing the WMO-assigned station.
ICAO Location
Indicator 		4 alphanumeric characters, not all stations in this file have an assigned location indicator. The value "----" is used for stations that do not have an assigned location indicator.
Place Name Common name of station location.
State 2 character abbreviation (included for stations located in the United States only).
Country Name Country name is ISO short English form.
WMO Region digits 1 through 6 representing the corresponding WMO region, 7 stands for the WMO Antarctic region.
Station Latitude DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown.
Station Longitude DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown.
Upper Air Latitude DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown.
Upper Air Longitude DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown.
Station Elevation (Ha) The station elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown.
Upper Air Elevation (Hp) The upper air elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown.
RBSN indicator P if station is defined by the WMO as belonging to the Regional Basic Synoptic Network, omitted otherwise.


Download the Station Information Text File keyed by index number:

Keyed by Location Indicator
Last Updated

All stations that have a location indicator assigned by The ICAO are available in this file. The ASCII file contains The following fields in The order specified, delimited by semicolons. Fields that are empty will be coded as no characters (adjacent delimiters) except where otherwise noted.
ICAO Location
Indicator 		4 alphanumeric characters.
Block Number 2 digits representing The WMO-assigned block. Not all stations in The file have an assigned block number. The value "--" is used for station without an assigned number.
Station Number 3 digits representing The WMO-assigned station. Not all stations in The file have an assigned station number. The value "---" is used for station without an assigned number.
Place Name Common name of station location.
State 2 character abbreviation (included for stations located in The United States only).
Country Name Country name is ISO short English form.
WMO Region Digits 1 through 6 representing The corresponding WMO region, 7 stands for The WMO Antarctic region.
Station Latitude DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where The seconds value is unknown.
Station Longitude DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where The seconds value is unknown.
Upper Air Latitude DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where The seconds value is unknown.
Upper Air Longitude DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where The seconds value is unknown.
Station Elevation (Ha) The station elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown.
Upper Air Elevation (Hp) The upper air elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown.
RBSN indicator P if station is defined by The WMO as belonging to The Regional Basic Synoptic Network, omitted otherwise.

Download The Station Information Text File keyed by location indicator:

Search for Station Information

You can search for information about a specific meteorological observing location on our station information page.
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Page last modified: December 19, 2003
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