Geos Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Over the last 3 weeks I have compiled precipitation data from 50 sites in and in close proximity to the sub-forum. I wanted to see if there were any clear indications whether the sub-forum area has experienced wetter or drier conditions overall in the last 10 years (2003-2012). I found out that a lot of sites have been a bit drier overall in the last 10 years. The range of % values all fall between 84-116%. I created a map in ArcGIS to show the variations in precipitation since 2003. Below that is the raw numbers in spreadsheet form. An exception for Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa is made since there is a lack of data for 2011 and 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Nice work Geos. Looks like most sites are pretty much right around normal. Specifically for LAF, there's unfortunately...too many missing days of precipitation in the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnweather Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Good work Geos. Looks like MSP has the lowest 30 year average out of all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Nice work Geos. Looks like most sites are pretty much right around normal. Specifically for LAF, there's unfortunately...too many missing days of precipitation in the record. Thanks! I did notice some missing data here and there. I think most of the sites are pretty good with their records. When I did see missing data it was in the winter where the snow-water equivalent data seemed too low to be true or missing. Nothing too extreme from my findings. I do think the frequency of heavy precipitation events have increased across the sub-forum - which is usually during the spring and summer months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 VERY nice work geos. I very much enjoy stuff like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trent Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Just curious why you used BKL for data for Cleveland instead of the official CLE, but then compared BKL to CLE's yearly average of 39.14"? That's the obvious outlier in that data set. BKL has had precipitation issues for years with many events going unreported/underreported. As an example, CLE had its rainiest year on record in 2011 with 65.32", yet that chart shows only 32.54" for BKL. Here are the past 10 years for CLE. That comes out to 42.94" or 110% of normal. 2003 42.50 2004 39.39 2005 39.87 2006 40.64 2007 41.44 2008 44.49 2009 35.76 2010 35.40 2011 65.32 2012 44.62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Thanks! I did notice some missing data here and there. I think most of the sites are pretty good with their records. When I did see missing data it was in the winter where the snow-water equivalent data seemed too low to be true or missing. Nothing too extreme from my findings. I do think the frequency of heavy precipitation events have increased across the sub-forum - which is usually during the spring and summer months. Well, I was talking specifically about LAF...with respect to missing precipitation data. Trust me, the record is not very accurate. There's several instances of missing or under-reported precipitation/rainfall. But, that's not to take away from your nice research here. BTW, APX has 2011 and 2012 data (by month) for Sault Ste Marie (ANJ) via their climate page: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=apx Ottawa (YOW): data starting in January 2012: http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climateData/dailydata_e.html?timeframe=2&Prov=ONT&StationID=49568&hlyRange=2011-12-14|2012-05-27&Year=2012&Month=1&cmdB1=Go&Day=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Trent and Chicago Wx: Since you gave me a couple sources I can update the info. without too much problem. Thanks I think I started noting Cleveland's precipitation record from wunderground and assumed it was CLE. I figured both sites were very similar in terms of accurate record keeping. I can swap BKL out. 2 observing stations that had quite a bit of data missing especially back before 2005, was Houghton and Marquette, MI. Would have at least like to have included one of those locations, but too much missing data. That why I'll have to beef up the Sault Ste. Marie record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 Just curious why you used BKL for data for Cleveland instead of the official CLE, but then compared BKL to CLE's yearly average of 39.14"? That's the obvious outlier in that data set. BKL has had precipitation issues for years with many events going unreported/underreported. As an example, CLE had its rainiest year on record in 2011 with 65.32", yet that chart shows only 32.54" for BKL. Here are the past 10 years for CLE. That comes out to 42.94" or 110% of normal. 2003 42.50 2004 39.39 2005 39.87 2006 40.64 2007 41.44 2008 44.49 2009 35.76 2010 35.40 2011 65.32 2012 44.62 Fixed. Thanks for taking the time to note the precip. amounts! Well, I was talking specifically about LAF...with respect to missing precipitation data. Trust me, the record is not very accurate. There's several instances of missing or under-reported precipitation/rainfall. But, that's not to take away from your nice research here. BTW, APX has 2011 and 2012 data (by month) for Sault Ste Marie (ANJ) via their climate page: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=apx Ottawa (YOW): data starting in January 2012: http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climateData/dailydata_e.html?timeframe=2&Prov=ONT&StationID=49568&hlyRange=2011-12-14|2012-05-27&Year=2012&Month=1&cmdB1=Go&Day=1 Fixed. Except actually a lot of data is missing for 2011 under that link for YOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trent Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Fixed. Thanks for taking the time to note the precip. amounts! Fixed. Except actually a lot of data is missing for 2011 under that link for YOW. Thanks. You might also want to check on the CAK (Akron, Ohio) totals too. They look a bit off. 2011 was also their wettest year on record. You can see at the bottom of the page from the NWS CLE that a lot of the past 10 years have been in the top ten wettest, but those numbers do not match the table. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/climate/cak/records/caktop10pcpn.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddylonglegs Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Nice...looks like LSE is dead on avg over that period... I would imagine winters have been wetter in this area, especially MSN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 Thanks. You might also want to check on the CAK (Akron, Ohio) totals too. They look a bit off. 2011 was also their wettest year on record. You can see at the bottom of the page from the NWS CLE that a lot of the past 10 years have been in the top ten wettest, but those numbers do not match the table. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/climate/cak/records/caktop10pcpn.html Yeah I'll take a look into Akron-Canton. It does seem low. This is data is from wunderground mostly. Edit: Added in the data I could find from CAK. Wunderground definitely is missing data on that location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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