PRISM Update: What’s New and What’s Next?

Christopher Daly PRISM Climate Group/NACSE, Oregon State University

PRISM Spatial Climate Data

• State-of-the-science climate mapping technology

• Developed and operated by the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University

• Accounts for variations in

climate due to elevation, rain shadows, coastal effects, temperature inversions, and more

2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map ½ million visits per month

PRISM CONUS Datasets

Station Networks

• AGRIMET • ASOS • COOP • RFC HYDRO • RAWS • SNOTEL • WBAN • SCAN

• CoCoRaHS • Minnesota HiDen • Environment Canada • North Dakota State Water Commission • South Florida Water Management District • CDEC • CoAgMet • OK Mesonet

Daily Mapping Schedule • “PRISM Day”: 12Z-12Z (7 AM – 7AM EST) +/- 4 hrs

• Day 0 ending 12Z is mapped:

1. D+1 day

2. D+5 days

3. D+ ~1 month

4. D+2, 5. D+3, 6. D+4, 7. D+5, 8. D+6 months

> 6 months = “Stable”

USDA RMA Crop Insurance Compliance Support

Purpose: Provide high-quality weather and climate

data to expedite claims (300,000/yr) – Did the claimed damaging event occur?

• Short time scale: Daily and monthly PRISM maps over the lower 48 states in near real time

– Was the event unusual enough to support a loss claim? • Long time scale: Climatic context for the event

– Make the assessment process quick and easy! • Web-based tools

PRISM/RMA Portal for Loss Adjusters

• Places weather events in their climatic context

• Quick overview of

conditions or detailed data

• Generates reports that

match adjuster work flow

• Upcoming work: Adding severe weather

PRISM/NRCS SNOTEL QC Web Portal

• QC’s SNOTEL data within ~36 hours each day

• TMIN, TMAX, PRCP, SWE, SNWD

• Provides replacement

values for missing or suspicious observations

Public PRISM Web Portal

http://prism.oregonstate.edu

• Emphasis on data delivery and documentation

• Access to 4-km versions of

daily and monthly data sets • Usage

– ~1,000 visits and ~60,000 grid package downloads / month (not counting ftp and web service)

Normals • Data and

images

• 1981-2010 normals

• Monthly

• Norm81m

• 800-m and 4-km resolutions

• Tmin • Tmax • Tmean • Precip

Comparisons: Anomalies

• Images • Deviation from

1981-2010 normals

• Last quarter, monthly, annual

• Back to 1981

• Tmin, Tmax,

Tmean, Ppt

Comparisons: Anomalies

January 2014 Mean Minimum Temperature

• Images (6,000!)

• Percent of 1981-

2010 normals

• Back to 1990

• Durations 1 -72 months

• Can include current month to date

• Designed for quick viewing of many maps

Comparisons: Drought Indicator

This Month

• “Early Glimpse”

data and images

• Daily • AN81d

• 4-km resolution

• Tmin • Tmax • Tmean • Precip

• BIL and ASC

formats

Maps = Art

Prior 6 Months

• “Provisional” data

and images

• Daily and monthly • AN81d, AN81m

• 4-km resolution

• Tmin • Tmax • Tmean • Precip

• BIL and ASC

formats

Recent Years • “Stable” data

• Jan 1981-Feb 2014

• Daily and monthly • AN81d, AN81m

• 4-km resolution

• Tmin • Tmax • Tmean • Precip

• BIL and ASC

formats

Historical Past • “Final” data

• Jan 1895-Dec 1980

• Monthly • AN81m

• 4-km resolution

• Tmin • Tmax • Tmean • Precip

• BIL and ASC

formats

• State

precipitation maps (images)

• 1981-2010 annual normals

• Finished cartographic style

• 72, 150, 300 dpi

Gallery

Grid Documentation

• FGDC metadata (XML) • Pedigree info (TXT)

– Creation date – PRISM dataset and version – PRISM model version – Processing steps to create the current grid

• Station inventory (CSV)

– ID, name, lat, lon, elevation, network

Help Documents

• Description of PRISM datasets and networks • Description of data formats • How to download via FTP

• How to download via web service

• Terms of Use (how to cite)

Upcoming Products

• CONUS atmospheric moisture mapping - RMA (2015)

• New versions of CONUS daily and monthly time series

– RMA (2015)

• New version of point-based time series tool

• NOAA Atlas 14, NE US – NWS (2015)

• Alaska 1981-2010 climate normals - NPS (2016) – Monthly time series?

Atmospheric Moisture Mapping

1. Monthly mean dew point normals, 1981-2010

2. Monthly min/max VPD normals, 1981-2010

3. Monthly dew point and min/max VPD time series,

1895-present

4. Daily dew point and min/max VPD time series, 1981-

present