T01/T05 Data File Description

About UNC Asheville’s Data Files

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences at UNC Asheville produces space-delimited files that are used to display data on our Current Data Display and 60-inch Weather Wall Display. The format also makes it easy to plot meteorological data in programs like Microsoft Excel. To plot your own data or retrieve data files for a particular date, see the daily data retrieval page. Each original T01 or T05 file displays data for a given UTC day. T01 files contain data every minute and T05 files contain data every five minutes.

File Header

The T01/T05 header contains 4 lines. The first line displays copyright information.
The second line describes the file version that corresponds with a given format, as well as whether the data are in metric units (i.e., °C, meters per second, and mm) or U.S. customary units (i.e., °F, m.p.h., and inches). The 4-character version identifier is followed by -SI or -US for metric or U.S. customary units, respectively.
The third line shows the creation date of the original file on our server. The creation date may change because data are occasionally reprocessed as part of our quality assurance procedures.
The fourth line shows the variable ID for each data column.

Special Notes

  • The 0000 UTC observation shows the total accumulated rainfall from the previous day.
  • Frozen precipitation is measured at the time of thaw. Some snowmelt may never be observed due to sublimation or blowing snow.
  • The data are reviewed for quality. Quality assurance algorithms may change or remove questionable observations in the time following your data request.

Variables

Name ID Metric Unit (US) Description
Station ID STID   Station ID
Date and Time YYYYMMDDhhmm Date (year, month, day) followed by time (hour, minute) in UTC
Relative Humidity RELH percent Sample relative humidity at 2 m
Air Temperature TAIR °C (°F) Sample air temperature at 2 m
Wind Speed WSPD m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind speed at 10 m
Wind Vector WVEC m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind velocity (speed and direction accounted for) at 10 m
Wind Direction WDIR degrees 1- or 5-minute averaged wind direction at 10 m
Wind Direction Standard Deviation WDSD degrees Standard deviation of 10-m wind direction during the 1- or 5-minute interval
Wind Speed Standard Deviation WSSD m s-1 (m.p.h.) Standard deviation of 10-m wind speed during the 1- or 5-minute interval
Maximum Wind Speed WMAX m s-1 (m.p.h.) Highest 3-second wind speed at 10 m during the 1- or 5-minute interval
Precipitation RAIN millimeters (inches) Liquid precipitation accumulation since 0000 UTC. Frozen precipitation cannot be recorded until it melts. Therefore, precipitation from snow may not be recorded until several days after the snow event.
Barometric Pressure PRES millibars Sample atmospheric pressure
Solar Radiation SRAD Watts per square meter Sample downwelling global solar radiation
2-m Wind Speed WS2M m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind speed at 2 m
3-m Wind Speed WS3M m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind speed at 3 m
6-m Wind Speed WS6M m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind speed at 6 m
6-m Wind Direction WDR6 degrees 1- or 5-minute averaged wind direction at 6 m
9-m Wind Speed WS9M m s-1 (m.p.h.) 1- or 5-minute averaged wind speed at 9 m
Temperature Under Vegetation at 10 cm TR10 °C (°F) Sample temperature under vegetation at 10 cm
Soil Moisture at 20 cm SM20 m3 m-3 Sample volumetric water content of the soil at 20 cm
Leaf Wetness LEAF millivolts Sample leaf wetness
Photosynthetically Active Radiation PAR2 μmol m-2 s-1 Sample downwelling solar radiation in the 400–700 nm portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used in the process of photosynthesis. The units are a measure of photosynthetic photon flux density.
Air Temperature at 9 m TA9M °C (°F) Sample air temperature at 9.0 m
Black globe temperature at 2 m BGBT °C (°F) Black globe (radiant heat) temperature, along with the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures, is used to calculate the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index.

Missing Data Values

Value Description
-999 Data flagged as bad by quality assurance routines.
-998 Sensor not installed.
-996 Missing value. Station did not report or measurement has not yet occurred.