Air Temperature Data

 

Mean daily air temperature drives simulation of evapotranspiration from aquifer devices and snowfall/snowmelt.  Air temperature data are not required if neither of those features are utilized in a given case.  

File contains one record per month in the following format:

 

    YYYY MM T1 T2 ..... TN

 

where,

  YYYY = calendar year (YY format recognized & converted to YYYY)

  MM= month

  Ti = mean daily air temperature for day i of month

  N = days/month

If a valid file name is specified 
'Edit General ' screen, values from file will be used. Otherwise, long-term monthly-mean  air temps specified on evapo-transpiration input screen will be used.   The long-term average values will also be used for any dates that are missing from the temperature input file.

An air temperature offset   can be added to input values from either source.  This adjusts input data for differences in elevation or other factors.  For example, average air temperature typically declines by 3-5 deg F for each 1000 ft of elev.

The air temperature file must be stored in the same directory as the case input file.

See sample input files .

 

Excel File Translation


Excel can be used to import air temperature data from external sources in any format. 

The translation utility ('File Translate Temperature') reads the first worksheet in the specified workbook. 

Air temperature data can be obtained from NCDC http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html   or local sources.


The worksheet is of the following form:

Cell A1  =   Title

Cell A2  =  "DATE"

Cell B2 =   "TEMPF"

Cell An  =   Date, in excel date/time format

Cell Bn  =   Mean daily air temperature (inches)

 

Rules are the following:

  • number of records (n) must be < 60,000
  • records in increasing order by date
  • date gaps are permitted but not recommended (missing dates will be assumed to have air temperature of 0 )
  • see example file 'temperature.xls'
  • see Precipitation Data for online sources of climatologic data