Note: This page is still under construction,
but I shall continue working on it until everything is lookin' good for
ya. Thanks for your patience!
A quick explanation of the ASOS station data...
Or go to the National Weather Service's (NWS) explanation page, with a picture of a station, at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso11/oso112/asos/sensgrp.html (~75K)
A map of the NJ ASOS stations I made for work:
http://climate.rutgers.edu/njwxnet/njasos.jpg (~145K)
Other useful links:
http://climate.rutgers.edu/stateclim/ The Office of the NJ State Climatologist
http://climate.rutgers.edu/njwxnet/ The NJ Weather and Climate Network-
the free, NJ Home Network section includes a Chatham station
Fields:
HR = Hour of observation in Zulu, or Z time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT.
** Chris's notes: Eastern Standard Time, or the time zone for
the East Coast of the U.S. from roughly October to April,
is FIVE hours BEHIND Z time, so 00Z on 3/15/2000 = 7pm
3/14/2000 . Eastern Daylight Time, or the time zone for
the East Coast of the U.S. from roughly April to October,
is FOUR hours behind Z time, so 03Z on 5/4/1999 = 11pm 5/3/1999 . **
WIND - Wind Speed and Direction (speed = miles per hour, or mph)
GST - Wind Gusts (mph) **Chris's notes: A lot of times, there is no gust recorded **
VIS - Visibility (miles) ** Chris's notes: Recorded up to 10-20 miles I believe, depends upon the site **
WX - Weather (Decoded) (see below)
SKY - Sky Condition (see below)
CEL - Cloud Ceiling (100's of feet)
TMP - Temperature (°F)
DPT - Dew Point (°F)
RH - Relative Humidity (%)
PRS - Barometric Pressure (inches of Mercury)
Sky Condition Codes:
BKN - Broken Clouds
CLR - Clear
OVC - Overcast
SCT - Scattered Clouds
WX Codes:
A - hail
BD - blowing dust
BN - blowing sand
F - fog
GF - ground fog
H - haze
IC - ice crystals
IF - ice fog
IP - ice pellets or sleet
K - smoke
L - drizzle
P - precipitation of unknown type (can be
rain, snow, or sleet)
R - rain
RW - rain showers (intermittent rain)
S - snow
SW - snow showers (flurries)
T - thunder
TR - thunder and rain
TRW - thunder and rain showers
ZL - freezing drizzle
ZR - freezing rain
- - light precipitation
+ - heavy precipitation
