Datasets for daily maximum and mimimum temperature of a specific geographic area?

Question

I am looking to perform some modeling for agricultural research that would provide an insight into the daily maximum and minimum temperature of a specified growing region.

The question becomes: what datasets or products would I use to to model this?

I have looked into satellite imagery (specifically MODIS and LANDSAT), however I have run into issues with cloud cover or the frequency in which data is collected by the various satellite products (3-4 times a month with LANDSAT, daily with MODIS but without any meaningful way to remove cloud cover)

I am looking to strike the adequate balance between high-resolution and frequent, reliable data to then convert into something I can overlay in google earth engine.

So now I am looking to NOAA products, more specifically the National Digital Forecast Database. Are there any other products that offer higher-resolution? How frequent is the data set collected?

I am also having trouble trying to figure out what the WMO headings mean for this product tool. Again, I am looking for daily maximum and minimum temps for a specific region.

Any help or suggestions is much appreciated.

Answer 1

There are a couple of datasets at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information that can help. NDFD is good, but it is based on forecast model output and not station data ("ground truth"). For starters I would use the U.S. Local Climatological Data (LCD). You could use the Min/Max dry bulb temperature, but it has several climatological data types that may be valuable:

• Daily Departure From Normal Average Temperature
• Daily Heating Degree Days
• Daily Maximum Dry Bulb Temperature
• Daily Minimum Dry Bulb Temperature
• Daily Cooling Degree Days
• Cooling Degree Days
• Cooling Degree Days Season to Date
• Daily Average Dew Point Temperature
• Daily Average Dry Bulb Temperature
• Daily Average Relative Humidity
• Daily Average Sea Level Pressure
• Daily Average Station Pressure
• Daily Average Wet Bulb Temperature
• Daily Average Wind Speed

Specific to climate you can use the U.S. Climate Normals (1981-2010), but these are the normal value for the past 10 year climate averages and the data is shaped different than station or gridded data.