Activities of the High Plains Regional Climate Center

The High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) is one of the six National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Regional Climate Centers. The mission of the center is to increase the use and availability of climate data in the High Plains region by carrying out applied climate studies, developing improved climate information products, and providing climate services through web interfaces as well as face-to-face. Central to the HPRCC mission is the data and products available through the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS). Included in ACIS holdings are data from the Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN). There are more than 200 stations maintained and operated by the HPRCC in this network, with more to come. Meteorological data from this network are available on an hourly basis and have proven to be quite valuable in applied climate research. For example, soil moisture data from stations in Nebraska were used in the development of a local soil moisture index (SMI), with current SMI conditions available in real-time. In addition, evapotranspiration estimates (along with crop specific parameters) are used to help determine local irrigation scheduling. Maps for the U.S. and for each region are updated daily for 28 combinations of variable and time period pairings. There are over 2,200 maps in the archive currently. These topics and other highlights of the HPRCC will be discussed in detail.