Louisiana Hydrometeorological Networks

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Regional Surface Meteorological Networks

Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (4 in Louisiana) located in the central and western United States. Further information on Union Pacific is available on their home page. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets. .
WWL WeatherNet - WWL-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana operates this network of 66 stations located primarily at schools throughout southern Louisiana (61 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the WWL network page.

WBRZ WeatherNet - WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana operates this network of 45 stations located primarily at schools throughout southern Louisiana (44 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the WBRZ network page.

KTVE WeatherNet - KTVE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana operates this network of 10 stations located primarily at schools throughout northeastern Louisiana (8 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KTVE network page.

KFDM WeatherNet - KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas operates this network of 42 stations located primarily at schools throughout southeastern Texas (1 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KFDM network page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Louisiana Agriclimatic Information System (LAIS) - The Louisiana State University AgCenter operates this network of 20 stations with locations throughout the state. The network provides 5-minute observations of air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, solar radiation, and soil temperature. For further information visit the LAIS home page. This network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Louisiana Air Monitoring Network - The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Air Monitoring Operations group operates this network of 10 stations with locations throughout the state. The parameters and temporal resolution are unknown. For further information visit the Air Monitoring Operations page.

KATC WeatherNet - KATC-TV in Lafayette, Louisiana operates this network of 18 stations located primarily at schools throughout southcentral Louisiana. The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KATC network page.

Precipitation and Radar Networks

NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Hourly Precipitation Data - NOAA/NCEP routinely develops a National Multi-sensor Hourly Precipitation Analysis (Stage II) data set from hourly radar precipitation estimates and from hourly gage reports. The gage data includes hourly observations from ~4000 gages across the US (127 in Louisiana) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. Further information on these data is available at: http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/mmb/ylin/pcpanl/.

NOAA/NWS Cooperative Observer 15-minute Precipitation Network - The NOAA/NWS routinely collects 15-minute observations of precipitation from Fisher-Porter and Universal rain gages operated by 2777 cooperative observers located throughout the US (48 in Louisiana). These data are archived at NOAA/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page at: http://ols.nndc.noaa.gov/plolstore/plsql/olstore.prodspecific?prodnum=C00505-TAP-A0001

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defense operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the contiguous US (4 in Louisiana). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivity, mean radial velocity, and spectrum width) and are recorded at all NWS and most DOD sites. Level II data are then processed in order to create a number of meteorological analysis products known as Level III data. Level III data are recorded at the NWS sites. The Level III products included base reflectivity, base spectrum width, base velocity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, velocity azimuth display (VAD) wind profile, vertically integrated liquid (VIL), 1-hour precipitation, storm total precipitation, hail index overlay, mesocyclone overlay, severe weather probability overlay, storm structure, storm tracking information overlay, and tornadic vortex signature overlay. All Level II and III data are archived at NOAA/NCDC. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radarresources.html or the NOAA Radar Operations Center at: http://www.roc.noaa.gov/.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Cooperative Network for Renewable Resource Measurements (CONFRRM) Network - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) oversees this network of 11 radiation stations (1 in Louisiana) with locations primarily in the southern and eastern US. The network provides 5-minute observations of global horizontal irradiance, direct normal irradiance, and diffuse horizontal irradiance. Some of the sites also provide various surface meteorological parameters. For further information visit the CONFRRM home page at: http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/new_data/confrrm/.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) UV-B Monitoring Network - The USDA operates this network of 29 stations with locations throughout the US (1 in Louisiana). The network provides 3-minute observations of spectral total/direct/diffuse radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, barometric pressure, and photosynthetically active radiation. For further information visit the USDA UV-B Monitoring page.

Soil Networks

None at present.

Hydrology Networks

United States Geological Survey (USGS) Streamflow Network - The USGS (part of the US Department of the Interior) operates this network of 7237 streamflow gages (197 in Louisiana) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is computed using a stage-discharge rating relation. The rating is defined by occasional direct current-meter measurements of discharge. All data are available through the USGS and the district offices in each state. Many of these gages provide realtime data relayed via the GOES satellite data collection system. The realtime data are provisional data that have not been reviewed or edited. These realtime data may be subject to significant change and are not citeable until reviewed and approved by the USGS. Realtime data may be changed after review because the stage-discharge relationship may have been affected by: 1) backwater from ice or debris; 2) algal and aquatic growth in the stream; 3) sediment movement; and 4) malfunction of recording equipment. Each station record is considered provisional until the data are published. The data are usually published with 6 months of the end of the water year (1 October to 30 September). Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it. For further information on the USGS streamflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page or the USGS Louisiana District Office home page.

Upper Air Networks

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network Low Vertical Resolution Data - The NOAA/NWS typically releases radiosondes twice per day at 0000 and 1200 UTC at 69 locations throughout the US (3 in Louisiana). During special weather situations the NWS can request to release additional radiosondes at off-times (e.g. 1800 UTC). The low resolution data is sent out over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and provides mandatory and significant level observations of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction. There are 3 types of radiosondes utilized within the US network, Vaisala, VIZ (or Sippican), and Microsonde. These data are archived by NOAA/NCDC and other organizations. For further information on the NWS Radiosonde network visit the NWS Upper-air Observations Program home page. A several year archive of GTS upper air data is available at the NOAA/FSL Radiosonde Database.

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network High Vertical Resolution Data - The same radiosonde locations mentioned in the previous data set also provide a 6-second vertical resolution data set that provides observations of pressure, temperature, altitude, relative humidity, and azimuth and elevation angles. UCAR/JOSS has developed software to derive 6-second vertical resolution winds from the angle data. These data are archived by NCDC and UCAR/JOSS.

NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) - The NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) operates this network of 32 404 MHz wind profilers primarily across the central portion of the United States (1 in Louisiana). Each site provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of wind speed and wind direction. Additionally, 11 of the NPN sites have a collocated Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) that provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of virtual temperature (none in Louisiana). For further information visit the NPN home page. An archive of the hourly wind profiles is available from NCAR/SCD.

Ground Based Global Positioning System (GPS) Meteorology Demonstration Network (GPS-MET) - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from 323 GPS locations around the US operated by many different agencies (10 in Louisiana). Typically each location provides 30-minute observations of integrated precipitatable water along with a number of surface meteorology parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, etc). For further information visit the GPS-MET home page.

Aerosol Networks

None known at this time.

Coastal Networks

Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) - The National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) operates this network of 55 C-MAN stations with locations along coastlines throughout the US (1 in Louisiana). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust. Some stations also provide observations of sea water temperature, water level, waves, relative humidity, precipitation, and visibility. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) Moored Buoy Network - The NDBC operates this network of 77 moored buoys with locations throughout the US coastal regions (1 off the coast of Louisiana). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, dew point, water temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wave height, wave period, and swell. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) - The National Ocean Service (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) maintains a long-term database containing water-level measurements and derived tidal data. NWLON provides water level observations at 318 locations throughout the United States. Some stations provide additional measurements including air and water temperature, pressure and winds. For additional information visit the NWLON web page.

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) Network - LUMCON operates this network of 3 stations located along the Louisiana coastline. The network provides at least hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation, solar radition, wind speed, wind direction, water temperature, water height, and salinity. For further information visit the LUMCON network page.

Wave Current Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana (WAVCIS) - The Louisiana State University Coastal Studies Institute operates this network of 6 stations located off the Louisiana coast. The network provides at least 3-hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, visibility, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, sea surface temperature, and current and wave information. For further information visit the WAVCIS home page.

Regional Surface Meteorological Networks
	Click on the maps for larger image


Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (4 in Louisiana) located in the central and western United States. Further information on Union Pacific is available on their home page. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets.	.
WWL WeatherNet - WWL-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana operates this network of 66 stations located primarily at schools throughout southern Louisiana (61 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the WWL network page.

WBRZ WeatherNet - WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana operates this network of 45 stations located primarily at schools throughout southern Louisiana (44 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the WBRZ network page.

KTVE WeatherNet - KTVE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana operates this network of 10 stations located primarily at schools throughout northeastern Louisiana (8 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KTVE network page.

KFDM WeatherNet - KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas operates this network of 42 stations located primarily at schools throughout southeastern Texas (1 in Louisiana). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KFDM network page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Louisiana Agriclimatic Information System (LAIS) - The Louisiana State University AgCenter operates this network of 20 stations with locations throughout the state. The network provides 5-minute observations of air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, solar radiation, and soil temperature. For further information visit the LAIS home page. This network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Louisiana Air Monitoring Network - The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Air Monitoring Operations group operates this network of 10 stations with locations throughout the state. The parameters and temporal resolution are unknown. For further information visit the Air Monitoring Operations page.

KATC WeatherNet - KATC-TV in Lafayette, Louisiana operates this network of 18 stations located primarily at schools throughout southcentral Louisiana. The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KATC network page.

Precipitation and Radar Networks

NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Hourly Precipitation Data - NOAA/NCEP routinely develops a National Multi-sensor Hourly Precipitation Analysis (Stage II) data set from hourly radar precipitation estimates and from hourly gage reports. The gage data includes hourly observations from ~4000 gages across the US (127 in Louisiana) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. Further information on these data is available at: http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/mmb/ylin/pcpanl/.

NOAA/NWS Cooperative Observer 15-minute Precipitation Network - The NOAA/NWS routinely collects 15-minute observations of precipitation from Fisher-Porter and Universal rain gages operated by 2777 cooperative observers located throughout the US (48 in Louisiana). These data are archived at NOAA/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page at: http://ols.nndc.noaa.gov/plolstore/plsql/olstore.prodspecific?prodnum=C00505-TAP-A0001

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defense operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the contiguous US (4 in Louisiana). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivity, mean radial velocity, and spectrum width) and are recorded at all NWS and most DOD sites. Level II data are then processed in order to create a number of meteorological analysis products known as Level III data. Level III data are recorded at the NWS sites. The Level III products included base reflectivity, base spectrum width, base velocity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, velocity azimuth display (VAD) wind profile, vertically integrated liquid (VIL), 1-hour precipitation, storm total precipitation, hail index overlay, mesocyclone overlay, severe weather probability overlay, storm structure, storm tracking information overlay, and tornadic vortex signature overlay. All Level II and III data are archived at NOAA/NCDC. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radarresources.html or the NOAA Radar Operations Center at: http://www.roc.noaa.gov/.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Cooperative Network for Renewable Resource Measurements (CONFRRM) Network - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) oversees this network of 11 radiation stations (1 in Louisiana) with locations primarily in the southern and eastern US. The network provides 5-minute observations of global horizontal irradiance, direct normal irradiance, and diffuse horizontal irradiance. Some of the sites also provide various surface meteorological parameters. For further information visit the CONFRRM home page at: http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/new_data/confrrm/.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) UV-B Monitoring Network - The USDA operates this network of 29 stations with locations throughout the US (1 in Louisiana). The network provides 3-minute observations of spectral total/direct/diffuse radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, barometric pressure, and photosynthetically active radiation. For further information visit the USDA UV-B Monitoring page.

Soil Networks

None at present.

Hydrology Networks

United States Geological Survey (USGS) Streamflow Network - The USGS (part of the US Department of the Interior) operates this network of 7237 streamflow gages (197 in Louisiana) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is computed using a stage-discharge rating relation. The rating is defined by occasional direct current-meter measurements of discharge. All data are available through the USGS and the district offices in each state. Many of these gages provide realtime data relayed via the GOES satellite data collection system. The realtime data are provisional data that have not been reviewed or edited. These realtime data may be subject to significant change and are not citeable until reviewed and approved by the USGS. Realtime data may be changed after review because the stage-discharge relationship may have been affected by: 1) backwater from ice or debris; 2) algal and aquatic growth in the stream; 3) sediment movement; and 4) malfunction of recording equipment. Each station record is considered provisional until the data are published. The data are usually published with 6 months of the end of the water year (1 October to 30 September). Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it. For further information on the USGS streamflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page or the USGS Louisiana District Office home page.

Upper Air Networks

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network Low Vertical Resolution Data - The NOAA/NWS typically releases radiosondes twice per day at 0000 and 1200 UTC at 69 locations throughout the US (3 in Louisiana). During special weather situations the NWS can request to release additional radiosondes at off-times (e.g. 1800 UTC). The low resolution data is sent out over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and provides mandatory and significant level observations of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction. There are 3 types of radiosondes utilized within the US network, Vaisala, VIZ (or Sippican), and Microsonde. These data are archived by NOAA/NCDC and other organizations. For further information on the NWS Radiosonde network visit the NWS Upper-air Observations Program home page. A several year archive of GTS upper air data is available at the NOAA/FSL Radiosonde Database.

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network High Vertical Resolution Data - The same radiosonde locations mentioned in the previous data set also provide a 6-second vertical resolution data set that provides observations of pressure, temperature, altitude, relative humidity, and azimuth and elevation angles. UCAR/JOSS has developed software to derive 6-second vertical resolution winds from the angle data. These data are archived by NCDC and UCAR/JOSS.

NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) - The NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) operates this network of 32 404 MHz wind profilers primarily across the central portion of the United States (1 in Louisiana). Each site provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of wind speed and wind direction. Additionally, 11 of the NPN sites have a collocated Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) that provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of virtual temperature (none in Louisiana). For further information visit the NPN home page. An archive of the hourly wind profiles is available from NCAR/SCD.

Ground Based Global Positioning System (GPS) Meteorology Demonstration Network (GPS-MET) - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from 323 GPS locations around the US operated by many different agencies (10 in Louisiana). Typically each location provides 30-minute observations of integrated precipitatable water along with a number of surface meteorology parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, etc). For further information visit the GPS-MET home page.

Aerosol Networks

None known at this time.

Coastal Networks

Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) - The National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) operates this network of 55 C-MAN stations with locations along coastlines throughout the US (1 in Louisiana). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust. Some stations also provide observations of sea water temperature, water level, waves, relative humidity, precipitation, and visibility. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) Moored Buoy Network - The NDBC operates this network of 77 moored buoys with locations throughout the US coastal regions (1 off the coast of Louisiana). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, dew point, water temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wave height, wave period, and swell. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) - The National Ocean Service (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) maintains a long-term database containing water-level measurements and derived tidal data. NWLON provides water level observations at 318 locations throughout the United States. Some stations provide additional measurements including air and water temperature, pressure and winds. For additional information visit the NWLON web page.

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) Network - LUMCON operates this network of 3 stations located along the Louisiana coastline. The network provides at least hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation, solar radition, wind speed, wind direction, water temperature, water height, and salinity. For further information visit the LUMCON network page.

Wave Current Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana (WAVCIS) - The Louisiana State University Coastal Studies Institute operates this network of 6 stations located off the Louisiana coast. The network provides at least 3-hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, visibility, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, sea surface temperature, and current and wave information. For further information visit the WAVCIS home page.