Short-term atmospheric conditions and phenomena — hours to days. Temperature, precipitation, wind, pressure, humidity, cloud cover, and their forecasts.
Scope
- Observations: Station measurements of temperature, precipitation, wind speed/direction, pressure, humidity, visibility
- Radar and satellite: Precipitation radar composites, cloud imagery, lightning detection
- Numerical weather prediction: Forecasts from NWP models (HARMONIE, ECMWF)
- Severe weather: Storm warnings, extreme precipitation events, heat waves, frost events
- Derived products: Heat index, wind chill, evapotranspiration estimates
Key Distinction: Weather vs Climate
Weather is what you get; climate is what you expect. Weather data has temporal resolution of minutes to days. If the dataset describes conditions over 30+ years as statistical summaries, it’s Climate.
Precipitation Cross-Sphere Note
Precipitation falls as weather but lands in the Hydrosphere. Rainfall measurements are atmosphere_weather; the resulting streamflow is freshwater_surface; soil moisture response is Pedosphere soil moisture.
Classical Theme Mappings
| Standard | Theme | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 19115 | Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere | Atmosphere |
| INSPIRE | Atmospheric Conditions | |Atmospheric Conditions |
| INSPIRE | Meteorological Geographical Features | |Meteorological Geographical Features |