<p>By your edit, it seems you are more interested in the "big data" side of the science. Model reanalyses contain large amounts of historical weather data, so that is a safe bet for ample amounts of data. <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NOMADS</a>, which is a service provided by the National Weather Service is a good resource for model data. There is another version of <a href="http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NOMADS</a> for operational data; I'd recommend that. For generic data, <a href="https://rda.ucar.edu/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RDA</a> has data. NASA has a <a href="https://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?page=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">server</a> that also has a lot of data.</p>

<p>You can also generate your own weather data for prediction and the like, by using models like <a href="http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WRF</a> or <a href="https://www.ictp.it/research/esp/models/speedy.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SPEEDY</a>. </p>

<p>Departing from model data, you have observations, you can access ground-based observational datasets via <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/land-based-station-data/land-based-datasets" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NCDC</a>. NCDC also has <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/satellite-data/satellite-data-access-datasets" rel="nofollow noreferrer">satellite data</a>, <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">radar data</a>, and so on down the line (you don't need me to explore the site for you).</p>

<p>Other countries have other datasets, though many come with a price. ECMWF, for example, has <a href="https://www.ecmwf.int/en/research/climate-reanalysis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">reanalysis products</a>, <a href="https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/catalogue-ecmwf-real-time-products" rel="nofollow noreferrer">operational datasets</a>, etc. The same is true for <a href="http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/model/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">JMA</a>, and other countries with their own weather service.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T00:45:33.730Z
2017-08-03T00:45:33.730Z
BarocliniCplusplus
<p>Wind speed, direction, temperature (highs and lows only or time of day?) </p>

<p>And do you want this for all over the Earth or just regional, like the continental US?  </p>

<p>If this answer is correct, there are <a href="http://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_weather_stations_are_there_in_the_world" rel="nofollow noreferrer">roughly 30,000 weather stations</a> across the globe, 365 days a year that's about 11 million rows of data per year.   That's a large enough database where you'd need special software to handle it.    </p>

<p>And if you want hourly wind and weather (1 wind speed and direction per day is pretty limited), now you're over 250 million rows of data per year, unless you want to limit your database to highs and lows - which might be the way to go.</p>

<p>And if you want this going back 100 years, well, that's a monster amount of data.   There's also the problem that weather stations don't always stay in the same place.  In the 1990s they opened up a whole lot of new weather stations, a percentage of which have since been closed.  That makes for some fun reading, especially on the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/08/13/weather-station-closures-flaws-in-temperature-record.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fox-News side</a>.</p>

<p>This might be the best source, at least, the best I found doing a quick search.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/</a></p>

<p>and daily:   <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records</a></p>

<p>They have a search function and a variety of datasets.   I haven't looked at them in detail.</p>

<p>This might also be of interest:   <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Weather_Observer_Program" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Weather_Observer_Program</a></p>

<p>I also just noticed, most of this info is in the source data question <a href="https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/10154/sources-of-weather-data/10155">posted in comments</a>.   (oops).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T16:21:30.373Z
2017-07-25T16:26:54.990Z
2017-07-25T16:26:54.990Z
userLTK
<p>For a personal project, i wanted to develop a global atmospheric database, to compile data like wind speed and direction, temperature, etc. from different sources. </p>

<p>My question is this : 
Does such a database exist? either in a free or paying format.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T21:03:42.843Z
Do model reanalyses count?
BarocliniCplusplus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T22:25:20.320Z
@BarocliniCplusplus I'm looking for a compilation of original data, but i'm curious anyway.
Sclrx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T08:43:49.700Z
@Sclrx What do you mean by "original data"?  What are you trying to do?  Reanalysis uses petabytes of "original data".  Can you please clarify how reanalysis does not satisfy your need?
gerrit
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T13:29:12.827Z
@gerrit i want to learn how to handle thé whole Big data stack, from hardware & hosting to prediction, ans i wanted to have a practical use for my project.
Sclrx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T15:47:59.733Z
Just curious.   What do you mean by "different sources".   I've never seen a weather report say "This source says the high was 96, the competing source said the high was 94".   There's only one source and one weather station per a specific region, unless you know something I don't.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T20:25:25.663Z
@userLTK  He may not there are standardized networks worked by single groups.  But either way, in the US we have ASOS stations, co-op stations, mesonet stations, home weather stations, etc.  They aren't typically compiled together anywhere, so I'd think that's what he means.  ASOS are the standard of typical official reports, but other stations can still be useful as well
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T06:20:41.170Z
*may not KNOW there are...
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T12:24:54.480Z
@userLTK I'm looking to compile and confront data from different networks, or satellite data. the idea is really to have a lot of data to play with.
Sclrx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T18:08:42.517Z
The global map of wind and ocean conditions at https://earth.nullschool.net/ lists a variety of data sources...
jeffronicus
<atmosphere><atmosphere-modelling><database>
Is there an atmospheric data database somewhere on the web?
Sclrx
# Is there an atmospheric data database somewhere on the web?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-24)

For a personal project, i wanted to develop a global atmospheric database, to compile data like wind speed and direction, temperature, etc. from different sources.

My question is this :
Does such a database exist? either in a free or paying format.

**Tags:** atmosphere, atmosphere-modelling, database

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do model reanalyses count?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I'm looking for a compilation of original data, but i'm curious anyway.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 What do you mean by "original data"?  What are you trying to do?  Reanalysis uses petabytes of "original data".  Can you please clarify how reanalysis does not satisfy your need?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 i want to learn how to handle thé whole Big data stack, from hardware & hosting to prediction, ans i wanted to have a practical use for my project.  
> **username_3**: Just curious.   What do you mean by "different sources".   I've never seen a weather report say "This source says the high was 96, the competing source said the high was 94".   There's only one source and one weather station per a specific region, unless you know something I don't.  
> **username_4**: @username_3  He may not there are standardized networks worked by single groups.  But either way, in the US we have ASOS stations, co-op stations, mesonet stations, home weather stations, etc.  They aren't typically compiled together anywhere, so I'd think that's what he means.  ASOS are the standard of typical official reports, but other stations can still be useful as well  
> **username_4**: *may not KNOW there are...  
> **username_0**: @username_3 I'm looking to compile and confront data from different networks, or satellite data. the idea is really to have a lot of data to play with.  
> **username_5**: The global map of wind and ocean conditions at https://earth.nullschool.net/ lists a variety of data sources...  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-08-03. Score: 3

By your edit, it seems you are more interested in the "big data" side of the science. Model reanalyses contain large amounts of historical weather data, so that is a safe bet for ample amounts of data. [NOMADS](https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets), which is a service provided by the National Weather Service is a good resource for model data. There is another version of [NOMADS](http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/) for operational data; I'd recommend that. For generic data, [RDA](https://rda.ucar.edu/) has data. NASA has a [server](https://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?page=1) that also has a lot of data.

You can also generate your own weather data for prediction and the like, by using models like [WRF](http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/) or [SPEEDY](https://www.ictp.it/research/esp/models/speedy.aspx).

Departing from model data, you have observations, you can access ground-based observational datasets via [NCDC](https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/land-based-station-data/land-based-datasets). NCDC also has [satellite data](https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/satellite-data/satellite-data-access-datasets), [radar data](https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/), and so on down the line (you don't need me to explore the site for you).

Other countries have other datasets, though many come with a price. ECMWF, for example, has [reanalysis products](https://www.ecmwf.int/en/research/climate-reanalysis), [operational datasets](https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/catalogue-ecmwf-real-time-products), etc. The same is true for [JMA](http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/model/), and other countries with their own weather service.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-07-25. Score: 2

Wind speed, direction, temperature (highs and lows only or time of day?)

And do you want this for all over the Earth or just regional, like the continental US?

If this answer is correct, there are [roughly 30,000 weather stations](http://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_weather_stations_are_there_in_the_world) across the globe, 365 days a year that's about 11 million rows of data per year. That's a large enough database where you'd need special software to handle it.

And if you want hourly wind and weather (1 wind speed and direction per day is pretty limited), now you're over 250 million rows of data per year, unless you want to limit your database to highs and lows - which might be the way to go.

And if you want this going back 100 years, well, that's a monster amount of data. There's also the problem that weather stations don't always stay in the same place. In the 1990s they opened up a whole lot of new weather stations, a percentage of which have since been closed. That makes for some fun reading, especially on the [Fox-News side](http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/08/13/weather-station-closures-flaws-in-temperature-record.html).

This might be the best source, at least, the best I found doing a quick search.

<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/>

and daily: <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records>

They have a search function and a variety of datasets. I haven't looked at them in detail.

This might also be of interest: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Weather_Observer_Program>

I also just noticed, most of this info is in the source data question [posted in comments](https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/10154/sources-of-weather-data/10155). (oops).


---

