Nebraska Hydrometeorological Networks

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Regional Surface Meteorological Networks

High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) - The HPRCC oversees and ingests data from various state agricultural networks and makes it available as the AWDN. The AWDN is comprised of 167 stations located primarily in High Plains region (54 in Nebraska). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. For further information visit the HPRCC AWDN home page at: http://hpccsun.unl.edu/awdn/.
Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (38 in Nebraska) 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. .

KOTA-TV WeatherNet - KOTA-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota operates this network of 12 stations located primarily at schools in western South Dakota, and nearby Nebraska and Wyoming (2 in Nebraska). 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 KOTA network page.

KMEG WeatherNet - KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa operates this network of 10 stations with locations primarily in western Iowa and (2 in Nebraska). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, and precipitation. For further information visit the KMEG network page.

KSNW WeatherLab Network - KSNW-TV in Wichita, Kansas operates this network of 103 stations located primarily at schools throughout western and central Kansas (1 in Nebraska). 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 KSNW network page.

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (4 in Nebraska). 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 KMAS network page. No map yet.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Road Weather Information System (RWIS) - The Nebraska Department of Roads (DOR) and City of Omaha operate this network of 54 stations located throughout the state of Nebraska. The network provides variable temporal resolution observations of air temperature, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, and precipitation (yes/no). For further information visit the Surface Systems, Inc Road Weather 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. Map at Web Site

Nebraska Air Monitoring Network - The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Division operates this network of sites throughout the state of Nebraska. It is not clear which, if any, of these stations provide any meteorological observations. For further information visit the Department of Environmental Quality. No map.

Precipitation and Radar Networks
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Nebraska. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the CoCoRaHS home page. No map.

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 (82 in Nebraska) 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 (63 in Nebraska). 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

Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network (NeRAIN) - The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Nebraska. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the NeRAIN home page. No map.

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 (3 in Nebraska). 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

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 Nebraska). 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.

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (2 in Nebraska). The typical observational frequency is 30 minutes. The parameters measured at each site vary, but Ameriflux has defined a core set of parameters that most sites collect, including fluxes of CO2, energy and water, basic meteorological and radiation parameters, and soil temperature and moisture. For further information visit the Ameriflux home page at: http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm.

Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) - The BSRN is a project of the World Climate Research Programme. The primary parameters measured by each station include global radiation, direct and diffuse radiation, downward longwave radiation, and meteorological observations. The networks includes 12 stations within the United States (1 in Nebraska). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

Soil Networks

Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) - The SCAN is operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, precipitation, barometric pressure, snow water content, snow depth, soil temperature (at 2, 4, 8, 20, and 40 cm depths), and soil moisture (at 2, 4, 8, 20 and 40 cm depths). The 80 SCAN stations are located across the US in primarily agricultural regions (1 in Nebraska). For further information visit the SCAN home page.

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 (86 in Nebraska) 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 at: http://water.usgs.gov/ or the USGS Nebraska District Office home page at: http://ne.water.usgs.gov/.

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 (2 in Nebraska). 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 (4 in Nebraska). 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 Nebraska). 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 (6 in Nebraska). 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.

Regional Surface Meteorological Networks
	Click on the maps for larger image


High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) - The HPRCC oversees and ingests data from various state agricultural networks and makes it available as the AWDN. The AWDN is comprised of 167 stations located primarily in High Plains region (54 in Nebraska). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. For further information visit the HPRCC AWDN home page at: http://hpccsun.unl.edu/awdn/.
Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (38 in Nebraska) 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.	.

KOTA-TV WeatherNet - KOTA-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota operates this network of 12 stations located primarily at schools in western South Dakota, and nearby Nebraska and Wyoming (2 in Nebraska). 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 KOTA network page.

KMEG WeatherNet - KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa operates this network of 10 stations with locations primarily in western Iowa and (2 in Nebraska). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, and precipitation. For further information visit the KMEG network page.

KSNW WeatherLab Network - KSNW-TV in Wichita, Kansas operates this network of 103 stations located primarily at schools throughout western and central Kansas (1 in Nebraska). 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 KSNW network page.

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (4 in Nebraska). 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 KMAS network page.	No map yet.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Road Weather Information System (RWIS) - The Nebraska Department of Roads (DOR) and City of Omaha operate this network of 54 stations located throughout the state of Nebraska. The network provides variable temporal resolution observations of air temperature, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, and precipitation (yes/no). For further information visit the Surface Systems, Inc Road Weather 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.	Map at Web Site

Nebraska Air Monitoring Network - The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Division operates this network of sites throughout the state of Nebraska. It is not clear which, if any, of these stations provide any meteorological observations. For further information visit the Department of Environmental Quality.	No map.

Precipitation and Radar Networks
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Nebraska. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the CoCoRaHS home page.	No map.

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 (82 in Nebraska) 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 (63 in Nebraska). 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

Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network (NeRAIN) - The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Nebraska. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the NeRAIN home page.	No map.

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 (3 in Nebraska). 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

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 Nebraska). 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.

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (2 in Nebraska). The typical observational frequency is 30 minutes. The parameters measured at each site vary, but Ameriflux has defined a core set of parameters that most sites collect, including fluxes of CO2, energy and water, basic meteorological and radiation parameters, and soil temperature and moisture. For further information visit the Ameriflux home page at: http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm.

Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) - The BSRN is a project of the World Climate Research Programme. The primary parameters measured by each station include global radiation, direct and diffuse radiation, downward longwave radiation, and meteorological observations. The networks includes 12 stations within the United States (1 in Nebraska). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

Soil Networks

Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) - The SCAN is operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, precipitation, barometric pressure, snow water content, snow depth, soil temperature (at 2, 4, 8, 20, and 40 cm depths), and soil moisture (at 2, 4, 8, 20 and 40 cm depths). The 80 SCAN stations are located across the US in primarily agricultural regions (1 in Nebraska). For further information visit the SCAN home page.

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 (86 in Nebraska) 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 at: http://water.usgs.gov/ or the USGS Nebraska District Office home page at: http://ne.water.usgs.gov/.

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 (2 in Nebraska). 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 (4 in Nebraska). 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 Nebraska). 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 (6 in Nebraska). 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.