RESOURCES: GIS DATA SOURCES

Weather/Climate-Related Data

GIS Data relating to weather and climate    The following links, mostly from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sites, offer downloads of data for various types of climatic and weather events.

• Main National Weather Service GIS Data Portal   http://www.nws.noaa.gov/gis
• Storm Prediction Center SVRGIS Page   http://www.spc.ncep.noaa.gov/gis/svrgis
• More Storm Prediction Center GIS Data   http://www.spc.noaa.gov/gis
• National Hurricane Center GIS Page   http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gis
• Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service Precipitation Download   http://water.weather.gov/precip/download.php
• Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service Rivers Download   http://water.weather.gov/ahps/download.php
• Weather Prediction Center GIS Products   http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/about_gis.shtml
• NOAA Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Estimates   http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/pfds_gis.html
• NOAA’s Weather and Climate Toolkit   http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wct/index.php
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet's GIS Main Page   http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/GIS
• PRISM Climate Group's Climate Data Page   http://prism.nacse.org
   

Geographic Base Maps & Other Data

GIS Data for base maps and other data    The links below offer downloads of data in various GIS-ready formats for base maps and geographic layers.
 

• US Census Bureau's TIGER Products   http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger.html
• National Weather Service AWIPS Shapefile Database   http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata
• National Weather Service RIDGE Enhanced Radar Images   http://radar.weather.gov/GIS.html
• US Geological Survey's (USGS) National Hydrography Dataset   http://nhd.usgs.gov/data.html
• USGS' Small-Scale Data Download   http://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/atlasftp.html?openChapters=chpgeol#chpgeol
• USGS' National Map Viewer   http://nationalmap.gov/viewer.html
• NOAA Office of Coast Survey GIS & Other Products   http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/gisintro.htm
• Great Lakes Commission GIS Map Layers   https://www.glc.org/greatlakesgis/maplayers
   

What is GIS?

Typically, the acronym GIS stands for Geographic Information System.  However, it can depend on who you ask, as the “S” has been known to stand for Science as well.  Simply put, a GIS is a collection of data with a spatial component that can be used for visualization and analysis.  It is becoming increasingly useful in many occupations, including those in the fields of weather and climate.

Outside Resources:

National Geographic Society
GIS (geographic information system)
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geographic-information-system-gis/

University of Wisconsin-Madison
What is GIS?
http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/GIS

Esri
What is GIS?
http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHDCRjAxpI0 [1-minute video]

 

^TOP 

---