NOAA GHCNh Guide: Hourly Station Data and CSV Export

Use the NOAA GHCNh Explorer to find global stations, analyze hourly weather observations, understand quality fields, and export station data to CSV.

Modified

July 13, 2026

Open the GHCNh Explorer

Maintained by Climate Explorer · Last reviewed 13 July 2026.

Quick start

Open the explorer, choose a country, and set a date window of up to 366 days.
Select a map marker or double-click a station-table row.
Compare hourly plots, daily summaries, and quality fields in Dashboard.
Export the displayed data to CSV or use NOAA’s direct station files.

1. Introduction

The GHCNh Explorer is an interactive dashboard for exploring Global Historical Climatology Network hourly (GHCNh) data. It allows you to visualize detailed weather records from thousands of stations worldwide, including temperature, precipitation, wind, and pressure data.

2. Global Navigation (Sidebar)

The sidebar on the left controls the global view of the application.

Select Country: Filter the displayed stations by country. Leave empty to see all stations.
Select Date Selection: Define the “Global Window” for analysis.
- Max Window: The range is limited to 366 days to ensure performance with high-resolution hourly data.
- Smart Sliding:
  - Dragging the Start Date backward moves the entire window back (Anchor Start).
  - Dragging the End Date forward moves the entire window forward (Anchor End).
Download Stations: Exports a CSV list of all currently visible stations (filtered by country/bounds).

Try it out: Explore Tokyo Data

To see a great example of historical data from Asia: 1. In Select Country, choose Japan. 2. On the map or in the Stations Info table, look for TOKYO (ID: JAI0000RJTD). 3. Select it to see a rich dataset of temperature, pressure, and precipitation.

3. Main Navigation Tabs

The application features three main tabs at the top:

Map View

The default view is an interactive map showing available weather stations.

Blue Dots: Represent stations available within your selected filters.
Selection: Click any blue dot to select a station.
- Red Highlight: The selected station is highlighted with a red ring.
- Persistence: Note that even if you change global filters (like the date range) that might hide the station from the general list, the selected station remains highlighted so you never lose your place.

Stations Info

A tabular listing of all available stations. This view is useful for browsing the full station catalog.

Double-Click: Double-click any row to load that station’s data and navigate directly to the Dashboard.

Dashboard

The Dashboard displays detailed data for a selected station. It only becomes active after selecting a station from the map or double-clicking a row in the Stations Info table.

Dashboard Header

Station Info: Name, ID, Country, Elevation, and Data Period.
Export CSV: Download the parsed data for the currently viewed period.

Dashboard Sub-Tabs

The Dashboard contains two sub-tabs:

Plots: Specialized visualization tabs for different weather parameters:
- Overview: A comprehensive 5-panel timeline showing Temperature & Dew Point, Wind Speed & Gusts, Pressure (MSL & Station), Relative Humidity, and Visibility.
- Precipitation: Stacked bar charts showing precipitation accumulations across different intervals (1h, 3h, 6h, 24h).
- Wind: A Wind Rose diagram showing the frequency distribution of wind speed and direction.
- Weathergami: A heatmap of Daily Max vs. Daily Min temperatures, visualizing the station’s climate signature. If you are new to that chart, the Weathergami overview article gives a quick interpretation guide.
- Diurnal: Shows the daily temperature cycle with median hourly temperature (red line) and individual daily traces (grey lines).
Data: Provides raw data access with nested tabs for different resolutions.

GHCNh data tab with hourly observations and export controls
- Hourly: The detailed hour-by-hour dataset with an Export Hourly CSV button.
- Daily: A generated daily summary table with an Export Daily CSV button.

4. Parameter Reference

The following tables list the parameters available in the GHCNh Explorer for each resolution. These parameters correspond to the column names in the exported CSV files.

Hourly Parameters

Column Name	Definition	Unit
`datetime`	Observation Timestamp	UTC
`temp`	Air Temperature	°C
`dew_point`	Dew Point Temperature	°C
`rh`	Relative Humidity	%
`precip`	Precipitation (1h)	mm
`precip_3h` … `precip_24h`	Precipitation Accumulations	mm
`wind_speed`	Wind Speed	m/s
`wind_dir`	Wind Direction	degrees
`wind_gust`	Wind Gust	m/s
`pressure`	Sea Level Pressure	hPa
`station_pressure`	Station Level Pressure	hPa
`altimeter`	Altimeter Setting	hPa
`vis`	Visibility	m
`wet_bulb`	Wet Bulb Temperature	°C
`snow_depth`	Snow Depth	cm
`sky_cover_1` … `sky_cover_3`	Sky Cover Layers	oktas
`sky_baseht_1` … `sky_baseht_3`	Cloud Base Height	m
`pres_wx_mw1` … `pres_wx_mw3`	Present Weather (Manual)	Code
`pres_wx_au1` … `pres_wx_au3`	Present Weather (Auto)	Code
`pres_wx_aw1` … `pres_wx_aw3`	Present Weather (Auto - Recent)	Code

Daily Parameters

Column Name	Definition	Unit
`date`	Date	YYYY-MM-DD
`Tavg`	Average Temperature	°C
`Tmax`	Maximum Temperature	°C
`Tmin`	Minimum Temperature	°C
`Precip_Sum`	Total Precipitation	mm
`Wind_Max`	Maximum Hourly Wind Speed	m/s
`RH_Avg`	Average Relative Humidity	%
`Pavg`	Average Pressure	hPa
`Vis_Avg`	Average Visibility	m

5. Direct Data Access

Advanced users can download the full historical raw data (Pipe Separated Values - .psv) directly from the NOAA NCEI repository.

Base URL: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/oa/global-historical-climatology-network/hourly/access/by-station/
File Naming Convention: GHCNh_<Station_ID>_por.psv

Finding Station IDs

You can find the Station ID for any location in the Stations Info tab of the application, or by downloading the station list CSV.

Example: To download the data for TOKYO (ID: JAI0000RJTD): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/oa/global-historical-climatology-network/hourly/access/by-station/GHCNh_JAI0000RJTD_por.psv

6. Troubleshooting and quality checks

The request exceeds the limit: Keep the global window at 366 days or less, then move the window to analyze another period.
A parameter is missing: GHCNh station coverage varies by sensor, era, and reporting practice.
A value is flagged: Use the displayed quality fields and NOAA documentation before including it in an analysis.
Explorer and source rows differ: The explorer parses source fields for display; use the direct .psv file when exact source structure is required.