Spatial Climate Analysis is HPRCC’s latest way to explore data from the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS)! The web application offers several pathways for users to analyze data from ACIS stations and grid points, while providing an easy to use map interface.
Let’s take a closer look at the tool!
On the left side of the screen is a panel that lets you customize the map, and access different tools. The Product, Timescale, and Plot Style options change the ACIS data being displayed on the map. The Grid Point Inspector checkbox will enable the selection crosshair for analyzing grid points.
The Other Layers section contains other overlays which may be useful. The county overlay will only work when the map is zoomed in enough!
Any overlays that have been selected will have a legend entry added in the legend section.
The map panel displays all information selected in the left sidebar. You can click and drag to pan the map, or use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in or out. The button at the upper right of the map will allow you to change the map in the background!
Hover over station points to view their values, or click them to open the station in the Station Data Explorer. There, you can create linkable graphs with the station data.
Enabling the Grid Point Inspector will change your cursor in the map to a crosshair. Click any location of interest to open the Grid Point Inspector!
In the Grid Point Inspector, you can create linkable graphs for any grid location in the contiguous U.S.!
As always, feel free to use the Contact Us page to ask questions or tell us how you are using HPRCC tools. You can also find us on Twitter @HPClimateCenter !
The High Plains Regional Climate Center is happy to announce that the new web application, Water Deficit Trends, is available for public preview! Users can analyze precipitation trends across the country. View current drought and precipitation data and trends, alongside current drought monitor information and USGS stream flows.
Access Water Deficit Trends here: https://hprcc.unl.edu/wdt/ Click the red question mark for help when you open the application.
Please Note: While we are excited to begin offering access to this new product, the full six month trend window will not be available until September 2022.
Using the Map Interface
The main interface of Water Deficit Trends
When you first open Water Deficit Trends, you will see a web map with colored shapes, and a side bar with different options. The data points plotted on the map are selected by the “Variables” panel, and the trend range allows you to select a week to compare today’s variable to. For example, by default, the panel has selected the 30 day Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and a “Trend Range” of 1 week. This will show the latest 30 day SPI values on the map, and the shape of the point will indicate whether the latest value is greater, less, or the same as the value 1 week ago. This can provide a quick glance at areas that may be experiencing drought improvement! Each data point can be hovered over to see the latest value, and clicking will open the Trend Analysis Panel for the station (more on that below).
The layers panel lists additional layers that may be overlaid. The latest US Drought Monitor may be plotted, rivers, River Forecast Center boundaries, and County Warning Areas are all included!
If you select the USGS Gages layer, a dropdown will be displayed which allows you to select a HUC region. All USGS gages with height and/or streamflow will be displayed, with the color estimating the flood stage. Please note that HPRCC provides the flood stage for assistance in analyzing long-range precipitation trends and identifying areas of interest. Accurate information regarding floods can be obtained through the appropriate River Forecast Center.
Clicking a USGS Gage will display a pop-up bubble that shows the station ID and a graph from either the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, or the USGS National Water Information System (The graph can take a few seconds to load). Clicking the graph will open a larger version for USGS plots, or to the station page for AHPS plots.
The USGS Gages layer shows the current state and values of gages
Hovering over the layers icon in the upper-left of the map will reveal additional settings for the map. You can change the base map, or look at some layers provided through NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System.
Additional layers can be found by hovering over the layers icon in the upper-left of the map
Trend Analysis Panel
Any data points for the layer you selected in the Variables panel are clickable, and will open the Trend Analysis Panel.
The Trend Analysis Panel opens with the Graph Tab
The graph tab shows a weekly graph with average temperature, precipitation, SPI, and SPEI. Each variable plotted is either a 30, 60, or 90 day value depending on the timescale selected in the dropdown at the bottom left of the graph. The Number of weeks dropdown sets the number of weeks displayed on the graph.
At the top of the graph, the date of each week is displayed, with the U.S. Drought Monitor status for that week displayed below the date.
The Table tab shows a data table of the values plotted on the graph. The table can be downloaded as a CSV or printed.
The Report tab shows a printable report with a brief narrative about the timescale and duration selected for the graph, information about the station selected, a weekly data table, a summarization of data from nearby USGS gages for the duration.
The Station Tool allows users to find stations in a given area, view information about the station, and go directly to HPRCC tools to explore data for the station. Explore the Station Tool in this Tool Spotlight!
Few tools in HPRCC’s product inventory have the breadth that the Station Tool does. When you are unsure of which weather station is appropriate for your use case, or are unfamiliar with an area, Station Tool steps in to help you locate a station and direct you to other tools in our inventory.
The Station Search form within Station Tool
On the surface, the Station Search form looks self-explanatory, but there are actually some advanced capabilities hidden in the search box! Here are the different search methods you can try!
City Name
County Name
State Name/Abbreviation
Station ID
Larger areas will take more time, since the Station Tool is requesting information from ACIS about all of the stations in an area!
After performing a search, you will have a list of stations in the left pane, and a map of station locations on the right. You can select a station in either pane to reveal information about a station.
The results after searching for a station in Station Tool
Inside of the station dialog is information about the selected station, along with links to the Station Data Explorer and Station Report Tool. The unique Annual Overview Graphs are also available from this dialog.
Annual Overview Graph for Charlotte Douglas Airport
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Disclaimer
Climate products and tools are developed by the High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) and its partner Regional Climate Centers to provide users with a means to routinely access recent weather and climate data. While applied research has demonstrated that the use of such data in decision making can reduce risk and lower a user's cost, near-real-time data are preliminary in nature and sometimes contain errors. Although care is taken to remove known errors, it is possible that some data will change after receipt of written records and final quality control steps. Users are therefore warned to consider any negative impact that errant data might have on their business and use preliminary data and information at their own risk.
The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of information on HPRCC webpages. HPRCC provides such information "as is,", and in no event will HPRCC be liable to a user or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of information provided through HPRCC.
