The National Climatic Data Center has recently completed a multi-year effort to compile daily data on the global scale. The result is a data set with over 50,000 stations from more than 60 countries. Data set elements include daily precipitation, and maximum, minimum, and mean temperature. The majority of stations are in the northern hemisphere and some stations have records in excess of 75 years. In addition, the data set has undergone a preliminary set of tests and procedures to ensure data integrity and quality. The primary goal of this first release is to introduce the data set to the global research community for analysis purposes and start receiving feedback on further improvements and corrections.