GLERL Great Lakes Air Temperature/Degree Day Climatology, 1897-1983

Summary

Daily maximum and minimum temperatures for 25 stations around the Great Lakes, 1897 to 1983, were given to NSIDC by the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), Ann Arbor, MI. Daily data can be used to produce daily maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, and seasonal accumulations of freezing and thawing degree days. The statistical data are archived on 25 reels of 35 mm microfilm, one roll per station. Microfilm rolls are the appendices to Assel (1980), with updates covering 1978 to 1983 spliced to the end of each microfilm roll. Data sources include U.S. Department of Commerce summaries of meteorological data for Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York, and the monthly meteorological observations published by Environment Canada.

Stations are: Rochester, NY, Kingston, Ont., Port Dover, Ont., Buffalo, NY, Oswego, NY, Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL, Cleveland, OH, Toledo, OH, Erie, PA, Alpena, MI, Bay City, MI, Port Huron, MI, Green Bay, WI, Milwaukee, WI, Parry Sound, Ont., Fort William, Ont., Thunder Bay, Ont., Escanaba, MI, Traverse City, MI, Muskegon, MI, Toronto, Ont., Houghton, MI, Marquette, MI, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, Duluth, MI.

Access to the GLERL Great Lakes Air Temperature/Degree Day Climatology, 1897-1983, data set is unrestricted, but users are encouraged to register for the data. Registered users will receive e-mail notification about any product changes.

Citing These Data

Assel, R.A. 1995. GLERL Great Lakes air temperature/degree day climatology, 1897-1983. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5VD6WCJ

Overview Table

Category	Description
Data format	ASCII
Spatial coverage and resolution	Twenty-five locations on the perimeter of the Great Lakes.
Temporal coverage and resolution	1897-1983
Tools for accessing data	The FORTRAN routine, degree_day.f, will read an input data file and extract the minimum and maximum temperatures and place these into an array.
File size	The entire data set is 14.8 MB.
Parameter(s)	Air temperature, degree days, maximum/minimum temperature
Metadata access	View metadata
Data access	Data are available via FTP.

Table of Contents

1. Contacts
2. Overview
3. Detailed Data Description
4. Data Acquisition and Processing
5. Data Access and Related Collections
6. References and Related Publications
7. Acknowledgements
8. Document Information

1. Contacts

Investigator

NOAA/GLERL
2205 Commonwealth Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-1561

Technical Contact

2. Overview

The data set of daily minimum and maximum air temperatures at 25 locations on the perimeter of the Great Lakes for the period 1897 to 1983 can be used to calculate freezing degree-days (FDD's) and thawing degree-days (TDD's).

3. Detailed Data Description

The data set consists of files in the table below, and a FORTRAN routine for accessing the data. Note that this code was developed on an SGI running IRIX 4.0.1 and is only intended as a template and may require updates by the user for the appropriate operating system. The files containing "77" within the file name refer to the data used for Assel, 1980 (GLERL-15) while the "83" files refer to the updates used for Assel, 1986 (GLERL-29). The data for 1977 contained in the "83" files supersedes the 1977 data in the "77" file. Note that the data for Escanaba, MI was supplemented with data from Fayette, MI for 1978 to 1980. The data from stations in Midland, Ontario and Standish, MI were used to replace data from Parry Sound, Ontario, and Bay City, MI respectively. Note that for the files covering 1977 to 1983 for the stations in Ontario Canada, the data is reported in degrees C to the nearest 0.1 degree. For example, -110 indicates -11.0 C.

File	Description	File	Description
alp77.dat	Data for Alpena, MI from 1897 to 1977	mil77.dat	Data for Milwaukee, WI from 1897 to 1977
alp83.dat	Data for Alpena, MI from 1977 to 1983	mil83.dat	Data for Milwaukee, WI from 1977 to 1983
bci77.dat	Data for Bay City, MI from 1897 to 1977	mqt77.dat	Data for Marquette, MI from 1897 to 1977
buf77.dat	Data for Buffalo, NY from 1897 to 1977	mqt83.dat	Data for Marquette, MI from 1977 to 1983
buf83.dat	Data for Buffalo, NY from 1977 to 1983	msk77.dat	Data for Muskegon, MI from 1897 to 1977
chi77.dat	Data for Chicago, IL from 1897 to 1977	msk83.dat	Data for Muskegon, MI from 1977 to 1983
chi83.dat	Data for Chicago, IL from 1977 to 1983	osw77.dat	Data for Oswego, NY from 1897 to 1977
clv77.dat	Data for Cleveland, OH from 1897 to 1977	osw83.dat	Data for Oswego, NY from 1977 to 1983
clv83.dat	Data for Cleveland, OH from 1977 to 1983	pas77.dat	Data for Parry Sound, Ontario from 1897 to 1977
det77.dat	Data for Detroit, MI from 1897 to 1977	pas83.dat	Data for Parry Sound, Ontario from 1979 to 1983
det83.dat	Data for Detroit, MI from 1977 to 1983	ptd77.dat	Data for Port Dover, Ontario from 1897 to 1977
dul77.dat	Data for Duluth, MN from 1897 to 1977	ptd83.dat	Data for Port Dover, Ontario from 1977 to 1983
dul83.dat	Data for Duluth, MN from 1977 to 1983	pth77.dat	Data for Port Huron, MI from 1897 to 1977
eri77.dat	Data for Erie, PA from 1897 to 1977	pth83.dat	Data for Port Huron, MI from 1977 to 1983
eri83.dat	Data for Erie, PA from 1977 to 1983	roc77.dat	Data for Rochester, NY from 1897 to 1977
esc77.dat	Data for Escanaba, MI from 1897 to 1977	roc83.dat	Data for Rochester, NY from 1977 to 1983
esc83.dat	Data for Escanaba, MI from 1977 to 1983	ssm77.dat	Data for Sault Ste. Marie, MI from 1897 to 1977
ftw77.dat	Data for Fort William/Thunder Bay, Ontario from 1897 to 1977	ssm83.dat	Data for Sault Ste. Marie, MI from 1977 to 1983
ftw83.dat	Data for Fort William/Thunder Bay, Ontario from 1977 to 1983	stn83.dat	Data for Standish, MI from 1977 to 1983
grb77.dat	Data for Green Bay, WI from 1897 to 1977	tol77.dat	Data for Toledo, OH from 1897 to 1977
grb83.dat	Data for Green Bay, WI from 1897 to 1977	tol83.dat	Data for Toledo, OH from 1977 to 1983
hou77.dat	Data for Houghton, MI from 1897 to 1977	tor77.dat	Data for Toronto, Ontario from 1897 to 1977
hou83.dat	Data for Houghton, MI from 1977 to 1983	tor83.dat	Data for Toronto, Ontario from 1977 to 1983
kin77.dat	Data for Kingston, Ontario from 1897 to 1977	tvc77.dat	Data for Traverse City, MI from 1897 to 1977
kin83.dat	Data for Kingston, Ontario from 1977 to 1983	tvc83.dat	Data for Traverse City, MI from 1977 to 1983
mid83.dat	Data for Midland, Ontario from 1976 to 1981	degree_day.f	FORTRAN routine to extract data

Parameters

Air temperature, degree days, maximum/minimum temperature

Spatial and Temporal Coverage and Resolution

Daily minimum and maximum air temperatures at 25 locations on the perimeter of the Great Lakes for the period 1897 to 1983.

Format

ASCII

Sample Data Record

The first number in the data record denotes the station number where temperatures were recorded, the second the month (1-12) recorded, and the third the year. The remainder of the record contains 31 sets of daily maximum and minimum temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit. Records for months with less than 31 days end in zeros for both maximum and minimum temperatures to make the record the same lengths as 31 day months.

 8251   1 1977  24   14  26   21  23   20  25   14  25   20  23   14  15    9  17    5   6    2  13    3  13    5   8   -7  11   -4  17   11  15   -6   8   -5  11    2  23    4  24   21  24   18  22   15  16    1  26    7  30   23  23   16  25   -1   3   -3   7   -4   5    0  12    2  20   12
 8251   2 1977  23   14  24   12  25   12  21    8  10    5  13    5  20    3  23   10  35   20  42   21  41   31  38   24  34   25  26   10  10    0  15   -8  29   -6  32   20  24    5  19   -5  23  -11  35   16  35   22  44   30  32   27  27   21  23   16  23   -1   0    0   0    0   0    0
 8251   3 1977  26    1  35   18  34   26  36   33  33   31  34   30  39   14  54   30  50   40  52   26  63   31  52   45  49   38  54   31  67   31  40   23  35   19  37   22  45   18  40   30  36   27  41   19  34   14  24   11  46   11  60   30  51   45  55   42  63   42  52   39  40   25
 8251   4 1977  40   20  40   33  40   28  39   31  35   26  29   19  37   24  32   13  55   18  80   29  80   52  83   40  68   31  62   24  52   42  63   45  69   44  71   49  77   43  68   54  69   44  59   40  66   32  50   42  55   29  61   25  77   37  43   28  62   21  71   47   0    0
 8251   5 1977  74   47  61   36  65   28  70   46  78   54  72   36  49   32  50   32  50   25  61   25  71   30  80   49  85   50  78   42  87   52  93   52  86   60  75   54  90   49  95   55  90   57  89   58  86   60  82   55  81   50  79   45  81   47  85   45  78   48  78   48  66   51

File Size

The entire data set is 14.8 MB.

4. Data Acquisition and Processing

Sensor or Instrument Description

Thermometers

Data Processing

The FORTRAN routine, degree_day.f, will read an input data file and extract the minimum and maximum temperatures and place these into an array. This program was developed on a SGI running IRIX 4.0.1 and is intended only as a template for the user.

5.Data Access and Related Collections

Data Access

Data are available via FTP.

Related NSIDC Data Collections

• GLERL Radiation Transfer Through Freshwater Ice
• GLERL Weekly Great Lakes Nearshore Ice Thickness and Stratigraphy
• GLERL Great Lakes Ice Concentration Data Base, 1960-1979
• Great Lakes Surface Ice Reports from U.S. Coast Guard

6. References and Related Publications

Assel, R. A. Great Lakes weekly ice cover statistics. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-133. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 27 pp. (2005). ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-133/

Assel, R. A. Computerized National Weather Service Great Lakes ice reports for winter seasons 1899-1970. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-130. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 31 pp. (2004). ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-130/

Assel, R. A. A Laurentian Great Lakes ice cover climatology. Proceedings of the 61st Annual Meeting of the Eastern Snow Conference, Portland, Maine, June 9-11, 2004. 2 pp. (2004). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2004/20040027.pdf

Assel, R. A., F. H. Quinn, and C. E. Sellinger. Hydro-climatic factors of the recent drop in Laurentian Great Lakes water levels. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 85(8):1143-1151 (2004). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2004/20040017.pdf

Assel, R. A., S. Drobot, and T. E. Croley, II. Improving 30-day Great Lakes ice cover outlooks. Journal of Hydrometeorology 5(4):713-717 (2004). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2004/20040016.pdf

Assel, R. A., S. Drobot, and T. E. CROLEY, II. Improving monthly Great Lakes ice cover outlooks. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-129. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 22 pp. (2004). ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-129/

Assel, R. A. Lake Erie ice cover climatology -- basin averaged ice cover: winters 1898-2002. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-128. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 15 pp. (2004). ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-128/

Great Lakes Degree-Day and Temperature Summaries and Norms, 1897 - 1977, Raymond A. Assel, NOAA Data Report ERL GLERL-15, January 1980 NTIS number: PB80-195977.

Great Lakes Degree-Day and Winter Severity Index Update: 1897-1983, Raymond A. Assel, NOAA Data Report ERL GLERL-29, May 1986 NTIS number: PB86-22243.

7. Acknowledgements

This data set is maintained at NSIDC with support from the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center.

8. Document Information

Document Authors

Unknown

Document Creation Date

Unknown

Document Revision Date

In July, 2006, this document was reformatted. F. Fetterer reviewed this document.

Document URL

http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g00801_glerl_degree_day/index.html