How do I find all stations that have record maximum and minimum temperatures within a specific range?

A good place to start is the U.S. National Climatic Data Center Global Historical Climatology Network dataset (NCDC GHCN). This dataset contains monthly station temperatures, including monthly high and low temperature values. The earliest records for this dataset begin in 1840 and it extends to the present day.

Note that there are raw temperature data as well as temperature data for the effects of urban heat islands, etc. In this example, let's use the adjusted temperature dataset.

  1. Enter the Expert Mode by selecting the "Expert Mode" link in the table at the top of the page.
  2. Enter the following lines in the text box underneath the text already in the box and then click "OK". Check Step 
    SOURCES .NOAA .NCDC .GHCN .v2 .adjusted .Max .temp
 [T]maxover
 26.667 maskgt
 SOURCES .NOAA .NCDC .GHCN
.v2 .adjusted .Min .temp
 [T]minover
 10 masklt
 mul

    These lines have selected the adjusted maximum and minimum temperature datasets and the record maximum and minimum values have been found for each of the stations in the dataset. Next, all the stations with maximum temperatures above 80 F (26.667 C) and stations with minimum temperatures below 50 F (10 C) have been masked out, leaving two lists of stations based on these criteria. To see which of these stations are common to both lists, the values of the two lists are multiplied together, which filters out those stations that are not common to both.

  3. Click on the "Tables" link in the table below the text box, then click on "I Agree...", and then on "columnar table". Check Step

    You can see that only one station (98328000) had both record maximum and minimum temperatures within the range your range.

  4. Go back to the GHCN dataset page using the NCDC GHCN link above.
  5. Select the "Searches" link next to the map of the stations.
  6. Type in the station ID number (98328000) and click "Get IWMO". Check Step
Under Dataset and variables, you can see that the name of this station is Baquio, which is in the Phillippines.

More information about the maxover/minover and maskgt/masklt functions can be found in the Data Library Tutorial.

-- Michael Bell / Emily Grover