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1. What is a State
Climatologist?
2.
How do I determine what data I need?
3.
What if I can't find the data I am looking for?
4.
Where do I get certified records for court?
5. Why
do we have to pay for public data at some web sites?
6.
Why are weather forecasts often wrong?
7. How
can we be in a drought if it's raining out, or even flooding?
1.
What is a State Climatologist?
A State Climatologist
(SC) is a person designated by the state and the National Climatic Data
Center as the official in charge of monitoring climate in the state.
Originally, SCs were employees of the federal government, but beginning
in 1971, funding was provided by individual states. As a result,
SCs are located in different departments in each state, and a few states
do not fund one at all. Because of their different funding agencies,
each has a unique set of responsibilities, although many include some public
service. In Georgia, we monitor weather and climate, provide public
service to individuals, research scientists, government agencies, and industries,
and conduct climate-related research.
Click
here to visit other SC web sites
2.
How do I determine what data I need?
In some cases, you will know
exactly what data you need because you are filling out an official form
which lists the data required, or because you have used this type of data
before. Most of the time, however, you will have to determine what
aspects of weather are affecting the situation you are studying.
In general, you will need to determine where you need data, what time period
it needs to cover (specific time or long-term average), and what weather
variables are important (for example, temperature, precipitation, humidity).
If you aren't sure what you need, you are welcome to contact us for advice.
3.
What if I can't find the data I am looking for?
Sometimes the data you think
you need are available and just hard to find; in other cases, the data
do not exist on the web or may not even exist at all. Climate data
are recorded at a limited number of locations and times, and only a few
types of weather data (like temperature and precipitation) are widely available
across the country. Other types of data, like humidity and pressure,
are taken at only a few locations in each state. If you can't find
what you need, you may need to choose an alternate location or rethink
what variables are important. You are also welcome to contact us
to help determine alternate sources of data.
4.
Where do I get certified records for court?
Records that are officially
certified for court are available only from the National Climatic Data
Center. Many of these documents can be obtained directly from their
web site for a reasonable cost. In some cases, you may be able to
use data that is not officially certified if you can get all parties to
stipulate that it is acceptable data. When in doubt, consult a legal
expert. If you have complicated legal issues related to weather,
you may wish to hire a Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) to provide
you with weather expertise. CCMs are certified by the American Meteorological
Society (AMS).
Click here to visit
the NCDC web site
Click here to visit the AMS
web site for a list of CCMs
(listed under Certification Programs)
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5.
Why do we have to pay for public data at some web sites?
Even though the weather
and climate data archived at government web sites were collected using
your tax dollars, these facilities are required to charge reasonable user
fees to cover some of the costs of providing them to the public.
This is similar to charging copying and postage costs for Freedom of Information
Act requests. The costs cover development of datasets, maintenance
of web sites, and contract personnel to answer individual data requests,
where needed. Individual state climatologists may have a sliding
fee scale which depends on the amount of data requested. In Georgia,
we do not usually charge for data, but often refer detailed requests to
other agencies.
6.
Why are weather forecasts often wrong?
Weather forecasts have
improved in accuracy over time. This is because of faster computer
models and more sources of weather data to run the models. The forecast
for 5 days from now is better than the 3-day forecasts that were made twenty
years ago. However, there are still times when the weather is rapidly
changing or when small weather events like thunderstorms can have large
effects on the evolving weather. This makes predicting the weather
more than 3 days ahead very difficult. Sometimes a small change in
weather conditions from what was expected, like the amount of clouds, can
make a very large difference in the daily high or low temperature.
Rainfall can also be very spotty in nature, particularly in summertime
thunderstorms, and can affect local areas very differently than the forecast
for the entire region indicates.
7. How
can we be in a drought if it's raining out, or even flooding?
A drought is a shortage
in the amount of precipitation that falls in a particular place.
There are two types of drought: short-term, or agricultural drought, and
long-term, or hydrologic drought. Short-term droughts are usually
periods of little to no rain over several weeks, and most often occur in
the summer when temperatures and evaporation from ground and plants is
high. They are called agricultural drought because they are especially
hard on plants and farmers, and usually occur during the growing season.
They can disappear relatively quickly once a rainy spell occurs.
By contrast, long-term droughts occur over long periods with lower than normal rainfall, even though there may be enough rainfall to keep plants reasonably healthy. The consequences of the extended drying are reduced ground water levels and lower base flows in streams. This can cause problems both for users who draw water from the ground and for people and ecosystems who depend on reliable water flow in the streams. Hydrologic droughts take a long time to go away because it takes months of above normal precipitation to make up the long-term deficits. However, many people may not even notice them until water supplies are restricted because of the shortages.
It takes a long time for water to trickle down from the surface into the groundwater. Because of that, it is quite possible to have flooding at the surface and still have a hydrologic drought. In thunderstorms, particularly, the rain fall so fast that most of it runs off into the streams before it can affect the groundwater, and can cause local flash flooding even while the long-term drought continues.
