Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Notes for Monthly Rainfall Climate Data Product code: IDCJAC0001 reference: 03210967 ________________________________________________________________________________________ ** Station Details ** Bureau of Meteorology station number: 68054 Station name: ROBERTSON (CAALONG STREET) Year site opened: 1890 Year site closed: Latitude (decimal degrees, south negative): -34.58 Longitude (decimal degrees, east positive): 150.59 Height of station above mean sea level (metres): 756 State: NSW First year of data supplied in data file: 1890 Last year of data supplied in data file: 2010 ** Data File Format ** The data are provided in two formats: as one month per line and 12 months per line. These file formats are shown below. - Data file with name including "Data1" - Column, Explanation -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Product code 2 Bureau of Meteorology station number 3 Year 4 Month 5 Monthly monthly rainfall (millimetres) 6 Quality of monthly rainfall - Data file with name including "Data12" - Column, Explanation -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Product code 2 Bureau of Meteorology station number 3 Year 4 January monthly rainfall (millimetres) 5 February monthly rainfall (millimetres) 6 March monthly rainfall (millimetres) 7 April monthly rainfall (millimetres) 8 May monthly rainfall (millimetres) 9 June monthly rainfall (millimetres) 10 July monthly rainfall (millimetres) 11 August monthly rainfall (millimetres) 12 September monthly rainfall (millimetres) 13 October monthly rainfall (millimetres) 14 November monthly rainfall (millimetres) 15 December monthly rainfall (millimetres) 16 Annual monthly rainfall (millimetres) ** Important notes ** 1) QUALITY FLAG DESCRIPTIONS Y: completed quality control and acceptable N: not yet completed quality control process Climate data pass through a number of stages in quality control which occurs over a period of time. Data are only included in this product if either one of the following is true: i) If the Quality Flag = Y, then we have, as a minimum requirement, a medium degree of certainty that the data have no errors; ii) If the Quality Flag = N, then no significant errors have yet been detected, although this may change during a later stage of the quality control process. 2) GAPS AND MISSING DATA Very few stations have a complete unbroken record of climate information. A station may have been closed, re-opened, upgraded to a full weather station or downgraded to a rainfall only station during its existence, resulting in breaks in the record for some or all elements. It is important to note that damaged instrumentation can result in gaps in the record for one (or more) meteorological element. In contrast the absence or illness of an observer may result in gaps in the record for all elements at a particular site. 3) INSTRUMENTS AND OBSERVATIONAL PRACTICES Historically, if an observational site moved a relatively short distance (within about 1 to 2 km) it may have continued to use the same station number. Changes may have occurred in instrumentation and/or observing practices over the period included in a dataset, which may have an effect on the long-term record. In recent years many stations have had observers replaced by automatic weather stations (AWSs), either completely or at certain times of the day. 4) LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES Latitudes and longitudes are provided to 2 decimal places. However, in many cases the geographic coordinates of a station will not be accurate to 2 decimal places. More precise positioning may be available upon request (see contact details). 5) TIME For a part of the year some Australian States adopt Daylight Savings Time (DST). The changeover dates vary from State to State and year to year. More information can be found at: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/daysavtm.shtml Apart from some early historical observations, daily rainfall observations are made at 9am local time and record the precipitation which has fallen in the previous 24 hours. Apart from some early historical observations, daily rainfall observations are made at 9am local time and record the precipitation which has fallen in the previous 24 hours. 6) COPYRIGHT The copyright for any data is held in the Commonwealth of Australia and the purchaser shall give acknowledgement of the source in reference to the data. Apart from dealings under the copyright Act, 1968, the purchaser shall not reproduce, modify or supply (by sale or otherwise) these data without written permission. 7) LIABILITY While every effort is made to supply the best data available this may not be possible in all cases. We do not give any warranty, nor accept any liability in relation to the information given, except that liability (if any), that is required by law. 8) CONTACT DETAILS If you need more information, you can contact us via the Climate Data & Information links at: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/how/contacts.shtml _________________________________________ Created on Sat 16 Oct 2010 13:59:45 PM EST from Climate Data Online, Bureau of Meteorology. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages Further information on this product: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/cdo/about/about-data.shtml