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Climate Suite Overview

The Climate Suite consists of three applications and one shared library.
Together they provide a complete workflow for importing, validating, querying, analyzing, and visualizing United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) data.


A. ImportUSHCN

Type: Command-line program
Purpose: Imports all USHCN station and temperature data and builds the relational database ClimateUSHCN.db.

Data Sources (3,655 files total)

  1. ushcn-v2.5-stations.txt — Metadata for all 1218 stations
  2. 1218 × .tmax files — Maximum monthly temperatures
  3. 1218 × .tmin files — Minimum monthly temperatures
  4. 1218 × .tavg files — Average monthly temperatures

Database Schema (ClimateUSHCN.db)

Table: Stations

Column Description
StationID USHCN station identifier
GUID Internal unique identifier
Latitude GPS latitude
Longitude GPS longitude
Elevation Elevation in meters
State Two-letter state code
Location City or locality
Component1 Metadata component
Component2 Metadata component
Component3 Metadata component
UTCOffset Time zone offset

Table: Months

Column Description
StationID Station identifier
Year Year of reading
Month Month of reading
MeasurementType tmax / tmin / tavg
CentigradeRaw Raw temperature (°C)
DMFlag Data measurement flag
QCFlag Quality control flag
DSFlag Data source flag

Table: Years

Column Description
StationID Station identifier
Year Year of reading
MeasurementType tmax / tmin / tavg
MaxValue Annual maximum
MinValue Annual minimum
AvgValue Annual average
ValidReadings Count of valid monthly readings

Table: GreaterCounts

Column Description
StationID Station identifier
Year Year of reading
MeasurementType tmax / tmin / tavg
ThresholdF Threshold in °F
Count Number of months exceeding threshold

Table: Metadata

Column Description
Key Metadata key
Value Metadata value

B. QueryUSHCN

Type: Command-line program
Purpose: Natural-language query engine for the ClimateUSHCN.db database.

Usage

Help Parameters

  • /help — Show help
  • /all — List all query examples
  • /station — Station queries
  • /statistics — Statistical queries
  • /state — State-specific queries
  • /month — Monthly queries
  • /year — Annual queries
  • /count — Threshold-count queries
  • /db — Database queries
  • /QC — Quality-control queries

Example Query Categories

Station Queries

  • QueryUSHCN List all stations.
  • QueryUSHCN Show active stations in Colorado.
  • QueryUSHCN Minimum monthly temperatures for station USH00419532.

State Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Monthly temperatures in Texas units degF.
  • QueryUSHCN Annual averages in Colorado.
  • QueryUSHCN Temperature trend in Texas.

Monthly Data Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Monthly temperatures in Utah including estimated values.
  • QueryUSHCN Maximum monthly temperatures for station USH00419532.

Annual Data Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Annual maximums in Texas from 1900 through 2025.
  • QueryUSHCN Annual minimums in Montana.

Threshold Count Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Show the percent of months above 100 from 1977 to 1987.

Database Queries

  • QueryUSHCN List your table schemas.
  • QueryUSHCN What version of the data is in the database?

Quality Control / Reproduction Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Reproduce decade 1 for station USH00419532 minimums.
  • QueryUSHCN Compare Kansas annual maximum temperatures QC vs non QC.

Verification Queries

  • QueryUSHCN Verify annual averages for station USH00419532 from 1900 to 1920.

C. Climate Explorer

Type: Windows desktop application
Purpose: Visualization, analysis, mapping, and publishing tool for climate data.

Core Capabilities

  • Graph climate data nationally, by state, or by station
  • Import images and Markdown into documents
  • Save documents as:
    • XML (.CEx)
    • Zip (.CE)
  • Export:
    • All pages as JPG (scanner-friendly)
    • Individual images
    • Full document as PDF
  • Print to any Windows-supported printer
  • Layout formatted as a letter-size book, compatible with Kindle publishing

Map Generation and Station Interaction

Climate Explorer includes a full map-rendering engine based on station GPS coordinates.

Map Types

  • National Map — Displays all USHCN stations
  • State Map — Displays stations within a selected state
  • Station Map — Displays a single station with surrounding geographic context

Interactive Features

  • Right-click on any map
    • Option to open the same location in Google Maps or Bing Maps
  • Click on any station
    • Displays station name
    • Shows latitude and longitude
    • Allows immediate generation of a new Climate Explorer output centered on that station

These features make Climate Explorer both a visualization tool and a geographic navigation interface for climate data.

Video Demonstration

A short YouTube video provides a quick walkthrough of Climate Explorer, showing how to navigate the database, view maps, generate graphs, and create documents. It’s the fastest way to see the core features in action before exploring on your own.

Video Thumbnail


D. Common Library

Type: Shared codebase
Purpose: Provides all applications with unified data structures, XML parsing, utilities, and climate logic.

Responsibilities

  • XML parsing for USHCN data
  • Shared climate data structures
  • Database access helpers
  • Graphing and rendering utilities
  • Shared math and statistical routines
  • Consistent behavior across all Climate Suite applications

Summary

The Climate Suite provides a complete pipeline:

  1. ImportUSHCN — Build the climate database
  2. QueryUSHCN — Validate and explore the data
  3. Climate Explorer — Visualize, map, and publish climate documents
  4. Common — Shared library powering all components

This architecture ensures consistency, reliability, and reproducibility across all climate analysis workflows.