FORMAT FOR THE MDL U.S. AND CANADIAN SURFACE HOURLY DATA FOR 1976 THRU 1996
 The MDL U.S. and Canadian Surface Hourly Data (ds472.0) is archived in an ascii format. In 1997, MDL changed the original format of the data as well as the output fields. To accomodate the new format and fields, DSS changed its ascii format of the data in 1997. Below is the description of the OLD format for the data archived for 1976 thru 1996 In most MDL/TDL documentation, this is often referred to as MOS1974.


Missing Values : If a field is missing, then the entire fields width is set to 9's. For example, if temperature is missing, the value is 999. If sea level pressure is missing, the value would be 99999, which, after dividing by 10, would become 9999.9.


byte
range		 Field
Width		 Implied
Decimal
Places		 Parameters
In Both
Formats		 Units Name
1 - 2 2 0 Y   Year
3 - 4 2 0 Y   Month
5 - 6 2 0 Y   Day
7 - 8 2 0 Y   Hour
9 - 12 4 0 Y   Station ID
13 - 17 5 2 Y degrees LATITUDE
18 - 23 6 2 Y degrees LONGITUDE
24 - 26 3 0 Y   OBSERVATION TIME
27 - 27 1 0 Y oktas CLOUD AMOUNT 1
28 - 30 3 0 Y 100's of feet CLOUD HEIGHT 1
31 - 31 1 0 Y oktas CLOUD AMOUNT 2
32 - 34 3 0 Y 100's of feet CLOUD HEIGHT 2
35 - 35 1 0 Y oktas CLOUD AMOUNT 3
36 - 38 3 0 Y 100's of feet CLOUD HEIGHT 3
39 - 40 2 0   tenths OPAQUE SKY COVER
41 - 41 1 0   coded OBSTRUCTION TO VISION
42 - 44 3 0   100's of feet CEILING
45 - 45 1 0   coded TOTAL SKY COVER
46 - 49 4 2 Y miles VISIBILITY
50 - 51 2 0 Y coded WEATHER
52 - 54 3 0 Y degrees F DEW POINT
55 - 57 3 0 Y degrees WIND DIRECTION
58 - 60 3 0 Y knots WIND SPEED
61 - 65 5 1 Z knots U-WIND COMPONENT
66 - 70 5 1 Z knots V-WIND COMPONENT
71 - 73 3 0 Y degrees F TEMPERATURE
74 - 78 5 3 Y inches
hours and hundredths		 6-HR PRECIP. AMOUNT
DAILY SUNSHINE AMOUNT
79 - 81 3 0 Z degrees F MAX OR MIN TEMP
82 - 86 5 3 Z inches 12-HR PRECIP AMOUNT
87 - 87 1 0 coded SEVERE WEATHER
88 - 89 2 0 Y coded SNOW DEPTH
90 - 94 5 2 Y inches 6-HR SNOWFALL AMOUNT
95 - 97 3 0 Y knots WIND GUST SPEED
98 - 102 5 1   millibars STATION PRESSURE
103 - 107 5 1 Y millibars SEA LEVEL PRESSURE
NOTE : Definition of Symbols for Parameters in both Formats :
        Y = Parameter is in both formats
        Z = a similar Parameter exists in the other format
  blank = Neither the parameter nor anything similar exists in the other format