Notes on the dataset:
Each file
listed below is a *.zip file which contains the data for every hydronet
rain gage in that particular month. Software to unzip these files can be
downloaded from InfoZip. When the first file is unzipped, it will create
one directory for each rain gage. If the data is from April 1998 or later,
there will be 70 directories created. For any data previous to this date,
68 directories will be created. In each directory that is created, you
will find a single file with the data for that specific rain gage, for
whatever month you chose. If more monthly files are downloaded and
unzipped, the individual gage files will be placed into their respective
directories (i.e. directories will only be created the first time). For
example, if you downloaded six months worth of data (six *.zip files) and
unzipped them on your computer, you should end up with at least 68
directories, each containing six files.
Each file is a comma delimited text file which should contain 96 rows,
while the number of columns correspond to the amount of days there are in
a particular month, so the first column is the 1st day of the month, the
second column is the 2nd day, etc. The first row is the gage reading for
0000 of that particular day, the second row is the 0015 reading, the third
row is the 0030 reading, etc., thru the last row, which is the reading for
2345 of that day. Because the gages use tipping bucket counters, the
numbers given are running totals in inches (see "cautions:"
below). If a reading was not taken while the gage is active, only a period
will appear in the "cell" of the spreadsheet. During periods
when the gage is inactive (broken), or data is simply missing due to any
number of reasons, m's will appear in the cells.
For each dataset (HST and UTC data), the directories will be named HI02
for gage 02, HI03 for gage 03, up to gage 99 (HI99). Not all numbers from
2 thru 99 are represented. For the HST dataset, the individual files will
be named in the following fashion; 2 or 3 character gage number, 4
character year, period, and then 3 character month. For example, a file
named 451996.Feb means the file contains the data for gage 45, for
February 1996, in HST. The UTC file names follow the same
convention except that the months are given numerically, i.e 01 for
January, 02 for February, etc. For example, the file named 451996.02means
the file contains the data for gage 45, for February, in UTC.
CAUTIONS:
- Because the readings are running totals, you
have to sutract successive cells to get the rainfall amount for a
particular 15-minute period. Accordingly, to get a 24 hour total, you
have to subtract the first reading of that day from the first reading of
the following day.
- The individual gage counters go up to 99.99
(inches) and then automatically reset to 00.00 . In addition to these
automatic resets, individual counters will be manually reset if any work
or maintenance is performed on that particular gage, regardless of the
reading at that time.
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