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Please note: Due to browser FTP deprecation, users will no longer be able to access NCEI data via browser FTP clients. Users may access data via NCEI Web Accessible Folders and/or FTP client supported applications. We apologize for any inconvenience. See this document as reference. 

Land-Based Station Data

Measuring Instruments used for current observations and data reporting

Measuring instruments used for current observations and data reporting

Land-based observations are collected from instruments sited at locations on every continent. They include temperature, dew point, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction, visibility, atmospheric pressure, and types of weather occurrences such as hail, fog, and thunder. NCEI provides a broad level of service associated with land-based observations. These include data collection, quality control, archive, and removal of biases associated with factors such as urbanization and changes in instrumentation through time. Data on sub-hourly, hourly, daily, monthly, annual, and multiyear timescales are available.

  • Datasets and Products
    Access NCEI's land-based datasets directly.
  • Find a Station
    Locate a station by using either a map tool or a location and data search tool.
  • Station Metadata
    Find details such as begin/end date for a station and when there was a change in equipment or siting.
  • Climate Data Online (CDO)
    Discover past weather and climate data from NCEI's archive using this web access application.
  • Data Publications
    View monthly publications for a variety of datasets along with serial publications and other documents.
  • NCEI Web Services
    Use these Web Services for programmatic access to NCEI data. Create your own scripts or programs that use the CDO database of weather and climate data.
  • HDSS Access System
    Get direct online access through the HDSS Access System to some of NCEI's land-based station data holdings that are archived on tape.

FTP Access

For large amounts of data, download ASCII files of the following products from our FTP area. This type of access is for individuals who have experience with FTP and programming languages. We recommend that you review any readme.txt files prior to downloading the data.