The Need for Standardization of Climate Data Products

During the past decade industry has focused on standardization of manufacturing and work processes. ISO certifications are offered to companies that have established processes to enable production consistency and ensure quality. Unfortunately, climate data products offered by government agencies and used by meteorologists in private practice are not consistent nor standard in the manner they are offered.

Consulting meteorologists use certain types of climate statistics to develop products needed by their customers for planning, design, and decision making. On-line climate statistics that are available do not always follow a consistent format and a baseline is needed for developing summarized data that can be handed off to the private sector. Examples of the ways climate data is offered will illustrate the lack of standardization. Illustrations will be given of typical data applications and suggestions will be made about how climate data summaries can be improved to provide common offerings to users.