I won’t pretend this is life or death for everyone, or on par with the battle waged by the man — Martin Luther King Jr. — who uttered the phrase used as title here.
But when news broke in early April that NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers were on their way to being shuttered, it sent shudders through the heart of the community.
And it was not unexpected.
Four of the 6 RCC did shut down temporarily when the first of two funding deadlines hit. From what I can gather, money has now been reestablished for a year.
Given their climate focus, and the big guy’s misunderstanding of what that means, the centers are still probably at high risk during the Trump era.
Over recent months I’ve written various Python scripts to download key data I would be lost without. To be true, I do not believe it can all be disappeared — more like made more difficult to find. But also, too many smart people across an increasingly open world are watching, downloading and saving important datasets.
Nonetheless, it is the starkest reminder that we need more sources and repositories of data to use and share.
As an opening offering, I have produced pages for primary weather data across the United States. Separated by region and supplemented with a home page that will probably grow further, the 425 long-term sites of historical data and current monthly/daily norms could keep you busy analyzing for years.
Links to each are below.
Eastern | Southern | Central | Western | Alaska | Pacific
Check back for more as ClimoSpot continues to be built out…
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