| Data Source | Tabular | Time Series | Delimited | Lotus WKS | NCDC | Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USGS Daily Values | X | X | X | X | X | |
| USGS Peak Values | X | X | X | X | ||
| NCDC Summary of the Day | X | X | X | X | X | |
| NCDC Hourly Precipitation | X | X | X | |||
| NCDC 15-Minute Precipitation | X | X | X |
The Tabular Format is a text file that displays data in a table. For Daily Values and Summary of the Day, this contains a header section with full station information, followed by a 12 by 31 table of the data for the year. This is repeated for each year of data. For Peak Values, this contains a header section with full station information, followed by a list of annual (or partial) data, by water year. For Hourly and 15-Minute Precipitation, this contains a header section with full station information, followed by a list of events for the year. This is repeated for each year of data.
The Time Series Format is a text file that contains data in a delimited list. For all data types, this contains the state, station id, date, time, value and flag (if any) for each valid data point. You have a choice of five delimiters.
The Delimited Format is a text file that is similar to the Time Series but has more station information. For Daily Values and Summary of the Day, this contains a leading section of complete station information followed by the daily data points and some statistics by month. Each year is presented on a single line. For Peak Values, this contains a leading section of complete station information, followed by the annual or partial record data. Each record is presented on a single line. You have a choice of five delimiters.
The Lotus Worksheet Format is a special Lotus WKS file that is compatible with programs that can handle WKS files. For Daily Values and Summary of the Day, this contains complete station information followed by the daily data points and some summary statistics. Each year is presented in a single column. For Peak Values, this contains complete station information plus the annual or partial data. Each year is presented as a single row. All WKS files have a set of Named Ranges that allow easy manipulation of subsets of the data.
The NCDC Format is a text file that emulates the standard NCDC card format. This has a station id (state code is a FIPS code, not a NCDC state code) an element type and unit followed by a date and series of data values. For Summary of the Day, this series contains all measurements for a single month. For Hourly Precipitation and 15-Minute Precipitation, the series contains all measurements for single day. This format is suitable for import into any software that uses native NCDC data.
The Card Format is a text file that emulates the standard USGS 80-char card format. It has lines for complete station information followed by a series of lines for the data, four lines per month per year.