Open Access to Weather Data for International Development
From the post:
Farming communities in Africa and South Asia are becoming increasingly vulnerable to shock as the effects of climate change become a reality. This increased vulnerability, however, comes at a time when improved technology makes critical information more accessible than ever before. aWhere Weather, an online platform offering free weather data for locations in Western, Eastern and Southern Africa and South Asia provides instant and interactive access to highly localized weather data, instrumental for improved decision making and providing greater context in shaping policies relating to agricultural development and global health.
Weather Data in 9km Grid Cells
Weather data is collected at meteorological stations around the world and interpolated to create accurate data in detailed 9km grids. Within each cell, users can access historical, daily-observed and 8 days of daily forecasted ‘localized’ weather data for the following variables:
- Precipitation
- Minimum and Maximum Temperature
- Minimum and Maximum Relative Humidity
- Solar Radiation
- Maximum and Morning Wind Speed
- Growing degree days (dynamically calculated for your base and cap temperature)
These data prove essential for risk adaption efforts, food security interventions, climate-smart decision making, and agricultural or environmental research activities.
Sign up Now
Access is free and easy. Register at http://www.awhere.com/en-us/weather-p. Then, you can log back in anytime at me.awhere.com.
For questions on the platform, please contact weather@awhere.com
At least as a public observer, I could not determine how much “interpolation” is going to the weather data. That would have a major impact on the risk of accepting the data provided at face value.
I suspect it varies from little interpolation at all in heavily instrumented areas to quite a bit in areas with sparser readings. How much is unclear.
It maybe that the amount of interpolation in the data is a factor of whether you use the free version or some upgraded commercial version.
Still, an interesting data source to combine with others, if you are mindful of the risks.