List of sites for historical data (radar, observations, analysis, soundings, etc.)

[Rob H]

If you've ever wanted to look at historical events, you've probably had some difficulty pulling together all the data you wanted. Here's a list of useful sites I've found - please post if you have any further suggestions!

NCDC Resources:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/climatedata.html - This page has links to the resources below, along with many others

http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?WWNEXRAD~Images2
Data: NEXRAD mosaic reflectivity
Data Format: Images
Range: 4/1/1995 - 2 days before present

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/
Data: NEXRAD individual products for Level 2 and Level 3
Data Format: Multiple
Range: 1995 - present

http://has.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plhas/HAS.FileAppSelect?datasetname=7000
Data: NEXRAD Level 3 full radar volumes
Data Format: Tarred and Gzipped by station and date/time
Times: Variable
Range: Variable, but typically mid-90s to 1 day behind the present
Note: This is the site you want to use for viewing archived data in GrLevel3, details can be found at http://grlevelx.com/owners/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4554

http://has.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plhas/HAS.FileAppSelect?datasetname=6500
Data: NEXRAD Level 2 full radar volumes
Range: 1995 - present

http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/data.php?name=access#hires_weather_datasets
Data: RUC, NAM, and GFS model runs
Data Format: .inv and .grb files

http://www.class.ncdc.noaa.gov/saa/products/search?datatype_family=GVAR_IMG
Data: Archived satellite images

HPC Resources:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/sfc_archive.shtml
Data: Surface analysis
Data Format: Images
Range: 4/2006 - present

ftp://ftp.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/coded_sfc/
Data: Surface analysis
Data Format: Text bulletins
Range: Last 2 weeks

SPC Resources:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/
Data: Tornado, hail, and wind events
Data Format: Images and CSV
Note: To go directly to a date, use http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/YYMMDD_rpts.html and replace 'YYMMDD' with desired values

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/
Data: Tornado, hail, and wind events
Data Format: CSV
Range: 1950-2009

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/obswx/maps/
Data: Sfc/925/850/700/500/300, wind speed/wind direction/temps/dew points
Data Format: Images
Times: 00z and 12z
Range: 11/30/98 - present

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/
Data: Observed soundings
Data Format: Images
Times: Typically 00z and 12z, although special soundings will appear
Range: Last 7 days

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/events/
Data: Multiple (radar mosaic, satellite, HPC surface analysis)
Data Format: Images
Range: 1/2000 - present
Note: To go directly to a date, use http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=YYYYMMDD and replace 'YYMMDD' with desired values

Misc resources:
http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/imagearchive/
Data: Multiple types, but most importantly 1km satellite
Range: 1996 - present

 

[Kelly Sugden]

University of Wyoming Upper Air

The University of Wyoming has a great archive of raobs dating all the way back to 1973.

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

 

[Jeff Snyder]

The IEM has an EXCELLENT site to search past warnings (severe tstorm, tornado, and flash flood I think). Included are verification statistics, along with some nice miscellaneous stats such as one that reports how much of a polygon aligns with a county boundary. In addition, there are some radar images from the times of the warnings (and warning updates).

Iowa Environmental Mesonet - IEM COW -> http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/cow/

NASA also has a site on which one can view archived RUC soundings (2002, 2005-2010). See http://www-angler.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/satimage/sounding.cgi

Finally, Plymouth State has a nice archive system which allows you to create surface and upper-air maps from previous days (among many other things one can do). See http://vortex.plymouth.edu

 

[mikegeukes]

I maintain a list of links to archived data on my web site, that I am working on.
http://supercellweather.com/archived.htm

Mike

 

[Michael Snyder]

http://vortex.plymouth.edu/sa_parse-u.html

Hope this works!

 

[ELY M.]

This would be useful for looking up SPC events.

examples here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=20110427

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=20120414

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=20121225

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=20130210

replace YYYYMMDD with exact event date you want to look up.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/event.php?date=YYYYMMDD

 

[Christophe Asselin]

Does anyone know why the http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/ link for radar data is down since yesterday? Is there any other way to download full level 3 volumes ?

 

[Shawn Schuman]

Archived Level II and III radar data, among other things, is available here:

http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plhas/has.dsselect

 

[Christophe Asselin]

Archived Level II and III radar data, among other things, is available here:

http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plhas/has.dsselect

Yes, I know, that's the site I was actually talking about. It looks like it's back online now. Thanks anyway!

 

[calvinkaskey]

Was the severe weather outbreak with those 5 tornadoes and 150 wind reports or so saved that just occurred on 2.21.14? I was specifically looking for radar in North Carolina.

 

[Isaac Pato]

I find myself poking around the SPC Mesoanalysis national sector archive quite a bit. It can be very useful for comparing past setups, and also oohing and aahing at extreme days.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/ma_archive/

 

[Andy Berrington]

ESRL 20th Century Reanalysis (great multi-purpose tool for historical weather analysis of many forms): http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/20thC_Rean/

Jonathan Finch's (NWS DDC) site (has plenty of analysis of past tornado events): http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/

For the US Cases specifically: http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/UScases.html

 

[beaudodson]

High Risk Archive
http://convectiveoutlook.com/

http://www.convectiveoutlook.com/highrisk/spc.htm

 

[Quincy Vagell]

PSU's e-WALL has a page for NARR 4-panel maps from 1979-2014. They are available for 3 hour increments and include 500mb, 700mb, 850mb and surface analyses.
http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/NARR/index.html

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

This site has a number of significant historical tornado events archived. Most events contain surface and upper air charts. Enjoy. http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/UScases.html

 

[chrisbray]

ESRL 20th Century Reanalysis (great multi-purpose tool for historical weather analysis of many forms): http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/20thC_Rean/

Jonathan Finch's (NWS DDC) site (has plenty of analysis of past tornado events): http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/

For the US Cases specifically: http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/UScases.html

Honest question - how the heck do you use the ESRL page? I can't figure it out.

 

[Markus Weggässer]

There is another new radar archive (base reflectivity + base velocity) since 1991 - present on the new weather.us
You can zoom-in in each County.

You will find more nice things (high-resolution models, lightning analysis and more) on this site.

 

[Lou Ruh]

Initially, I was a little confused. I chose USA East and then I could not choose Pennsylvania as a state. If I choose USA instead of USA East, Pennsylvania is there. Pennsylvania should probably be included in USA East. New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware Connecticut, and Rhode Island should also be included there.

 

[Markus Weggässer]

Initially, I was a little confused. I chose USA East and then I could not choose Pennsylvania as a state. If I choose USA instead of USA East, Pennsylvania is there. Pennsylvania should probably be included in USA East. New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware Connecticut, and Rhode Island should also be included there.

@Joerg Kachelmann Should that be so?

 

[Lou Ruh]

@Joerg Kachelmann Should that be so?

Yes. All those states are in the eastern half of the US!

 

[Markus Weggässer]

Yes. All those states are in the eastern half of the US!

I know. Sorry, i mean should that be so that these states are only included when choosing "USA"

 

[K. Gentry]

SPC Violent Tornado Webpage (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/outbreaks/)

* Includes common analysis (full troposphere) and tornado parameters (given at 3hr intervals) and reports(prev 3hr or prev 6hr options) of the strongest tornado outbreaks. Very comprehensive data set; large temporal scope.