NCEI Data Retriever

This package provides a wrapper over the NCEI Data Service API to retrieve daily weather summaries from the NCEI database. This simplifies access to basic climate variables and retrieves relevant metadata in a CF-compliant netCDF file.

Installation

Assuming you have Python and conda installed:

1. Clone the repository and switch to the directory:

   git clone https://github.com/andrew-s28/ncei-data-retriever.git
   cd ncei-data-retriever/
   

2. Create and activate a conda environment:

   conda env create -f environment.yml
   conda activate ncei
   

3. You can now retrieve data:

   python ./scripts/retrieve_daily_summaries.py USC00351877 -s 2017-08-15 -e 2020-12-16 -p ./data
   

Usage

The only data currently implemented are NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network - Daily (GHCND) data. This script can be used by default to access the "core" values: TMIN (daily minimum temperature), TMAX (daily minimum temperature), PRCP (daily total precipitation), SNOW (daily total snowfall), and SNWD (total snow depth). By specifying the --all flag, all available variables at the station will be retrieved, but one should be careful to check the datasheet as the metadata for these non-core variables may not be clear.

Only a station ID is required. You can search for stations using the NCEI Climate Data Online search tool. Multiple stations can be included, separated by a space:

python ./scripts/retrieve_daily_summaries.py USC00351877 USW00014820

Find help using the --help flag:

python ./scripts/retrieve_daily_summaries.py --help

usage: retrieve_daily_summaries.py [-h] [-i | --info | --no-info] [-a | --all | --no-all] [-s start] [-e end] [-p path] station [station ...]

Retrieve daily summaries from NCEI data service API and save to netCDF file.

positional arguments:
  station               NCEI station ID (multiple stations can be separated by spaces)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i, --info, --no-info
                        Get station information only (default --no-info).
  -a, --all, --no-all   Retrieve all available variables for station(s) (default --no-all).
  -s start, --start start
                        Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format (default: 1750-01-01)
  -e end, --end end     End date in YYYY-MM-DD format (default: 2024-06-18)
  -p path, --path path  Path for saving file (defaults to current directory)

License

This package is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.