Help Sections
General Help
What is NCDC?
The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is the world's largest active archive of weather data. Our mission is to provide access and stewardship to the Nation's resource of global climate and weather related data and information, and assess and monitor climate variation and change. This effort requires the acquisition, quality control, processing, summarization, dissemination, and preservation of a vast array of climatological data generated by the national and international meteorological services. NCDC's mission is global in nature and provides the U.S. climate representative to the World Meteorological Organization, the World Data Center System, and other international scientific programs. NCDC also operates the World Data Center for Meteorology, Asheville.
What can NCDC do for me?
Our mission is to provide access and stewardship to the Nation's resource of global climate and weather related data and information, and assess and monitor climate variation and change. This effort requires the acquisition, quality control, processing, summarization, dissemination, and preservation of a vast array of climatological data generated by the national and international meteorological services. NCDC's mission is global in nature and provides the U.S. climate representative to the World Meteorological Organization, the World Data Center System, and other international scientific programs. NCDC also operates the World Data Center for Meteorology, Asheville.
What do I need to access data on NCDC's site?
Before using the NCDC website, please ensure that you are using the following tools to access the site:
Supported web browser: The following web browsers are officially supported by NOAA and NCDC. Alternative web browsers have not been fully tested and are not guaranteed to work properly. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Apple Safari 5+, Google Chrome 12+, Opera 11+. Note that Javascript, cookies, and Adobe Flash Player 10 are required for full site functionality, including the interactive maps.
Valid email address: All data request messages will be handled via email, so a valid email address will be needed to successfully request data.
Data Viewer: To edit or view the files that are downloaded from the Climate Data Online portal, an Adobe PDF viewer and/or plain text viewer will be needed. Most text files are delivered in ASCII text format and can be imported into a spreadsheet program, such as Excel or OpenOffice.
What is the best browser to use with NCDC's site?
NCDC's site supports multiple browsers so feel free to attempt to view the site with your preferred browser. If any issues arise, we recommend any of the following browsers as a solution.
Mozilla Firefox
Recommended Settings
Please ensure that you are using at least version 3.5 of Firefox for the best possible online experience while using the NCDC website. Please also ensure that Firefox has JavaScript and cookies enabled.
1. From the Firefox menu, select Tools, then select Options (Mac users select Firefox, then Preferences).
2. Click the Content icon
3. Check the check box next to Enable JavaScript
4. Click OK (Mac users close the window)
To accept cookies:
1. From the Firefox menu, select Tools, then select Options (Mac users select Firefox, then Preferences)
2. Click on the Privacy icon
3. Set the option labeled "Firefox will" by clicking the dropdown box and selecting "Use custom settings for history"
4. Check the option marked Accept cookies from sites:
5. Click the "Exceptions..." button
6. Enter the following addresses, clicking the Allow button after each:
www.ncdc.noaa.govwww4.ncdc.noaa.gov
7. Choose how long cookies are allowed to be stored.
Keep until: they expire: Each cookie will be removed when it reaches its expiration date, which is set by the site that sent the cookie.
Keep until: I close Firefox: The cookies that are stored on your computer will be removed when Firefox is closed.
Keep until: ask me every time: Displays an alert each time a website tries to send that asks whether you want to store it.
8. Click OK to close the Options window.
9. Click Close to close the Preferences window.
Please ensure that Firefox has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Internet Explorer 8/9
Recommended Settings
Internet Explorer 8 and 9 provide security features that may be blocking some features of the NCDC website. The easiest solution is to add NCDC and its partners as trusted sites within IE's options. Note: some networks have these options locked down at the administrator level and are not accessible by standard users.
1. From the Internet Explorer menu, select Tools, then select Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab, select Trusted Sites and then click the Sites button.
3. Enter the following addresses, clicking Add after each entry:
www.ncdc.noaa.govwww4.ncdc.noaa.gov
4. Make sure to uncheck the option Require server verification
5. Click Close
6. Then click OK
Please ensure that IE has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
Recommended Settings
Internet Explorer 7 provides security features that may be blocking some features of the NCDC website. The most common solution is to set up NCDC and its associated partners as trusted sites.
1. From the Internet Explorer menu, select Tools, then select Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab, select Trusted Sites and then click the Sites button.
3. Enter the following addresses, clicking Add after each entry:
www.ncdc.noaa.govwww4.ncdc.noaa.gov
4. Make sure to uncheck Require server verification
5. Click OK
6. Click OK
Please ensure that IE has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or earlier
Recommended Settings
Internet Explorer 6 and earlier iterations are not fully supported on any NCDC site as these browsers do not support the security or features that are in use on this site. Using Internet Explorer 6 or earlier will not allow specific parts of our site to work and we recommend the use of a more modern web browser with full security and features support.
Apple Safari
Recommended Settings
Please ensure that you are using at least version 5 of Safari for the best possible online experience while using the NCDC website. Please also ensure that Safari has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Google Chrome
Recommended Settings
Please ensure that you are using at least version 12 of Chrome for the best possible online experience while using the NCDC website. Please also ensure that Chrome has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Opera
Recommended Settings
Please ensure that you are using at least version 11 of Opera for the best possible online experience while using the NCDC website. Please also ensure that Opera has JavaScript and cookies enabled and Adobe Flash Player 10+ installed.
Other alternative browsers
Not all browsers have been thoroughly tested with the NCDC website and we cannot guarantee the user experience using any of these browsers. For the best possible online experience while using the NCDC website, please use one of the tested web browsers.
Mobile web browsers
Modern mobile devices do have full featured web browsers based on desktop application counterparts. These browsers should work so long as they are based on a WebKit or Mozilla/Gecko redering engine. This includes Google Android phone and tablet device and Apple iOS phone and tablet device default browsers. Not all alternate mobile web browsers have been tested with the NCDC website and are not guaranteed to work properly.
