UK Wind data - .wind (wind data) file format

PLEASE NOTE: The file format described below refers to the Met Office Land Surface data (1900-2000) dataset which has been superseded by the Met Office MIDAS dataset (1853-present) at the BADC.

The surface observation data are in a simple ASCII format.

A list of UK stations for which the BADC holds .wind files is available (.wind stations).

The file name convention is (STATION_NAME)(YEAR).(MESSAGE_TYPE).(FILE_EXTENSION)

STATION_NAMES is the complete station name.
YEAR is the year expressed in full, ie 1998.
Description of the message types is available.
The file extension is .wind meaning that the file contains wind measurements.

These .wind files contain values of mean wind and gust direction and speed measured during one or more hours ending at the stated date and time. There are two types of measurements: Wind and gust direction and speed measured over a whole hour and mean value of wind speed for a 24 hour period, usually 09-09Z.

-999 indicates a missing value.

The first line of the data file are the fields headers (which are detailed in the table below).

The fields in the .wind data files are:

HEADER PARAMETER FIELDS COLUMNS UNITS COMMENTS

ID Station Number 1 1-8 - Wind observing site identification

IDTYPE - 2 9-17 - Wind observing site identification

MET_DOM Meteorological Domain 3 18-28 - Message types

YEAR Year 4 29-35 - 4 characters

MON Month 5 36-43 - 1 or 2 characters (from 1 to 12)

DAY Day 6 44-51 - 1 or 2 characters (from 1 to 31max)

END_HOUR Hour 7 52-61 - Hour of observation from 0 to 2300

COUNT Hour count 7 62-69 - See COUNT definition

MDIR Mean Wind Direction 9 70-77 degree true The wind direction from which the wind blows, is measured in Degrees (true). The entry for an east wind is 090, that for a south wind 180 and so on clockwise.
Note that zero values in both wind speed and wind direction fields indicate that there was no wind blowing at the time of observation.
See Met Office documentation

MSPEED Mean Wind Speed 10 78-85 knots Note that those mean wind speed values are the total of the daily measurements, that is, a daily mean up to the reporting time. Please divide value by 24 to get the daily mean.
Note also that zero values in both wind speed and wind direction fields indicate that there was no wind blowing at the time of observation.
See Met Office documentation

GUST_DIR Max Gust Direction 11 86-95 degree true See Met Office documentation

GUST_SPEED Max Gust Speed 12 96-107 knots See Met Office documentation

GUST_TIME Time of Maximum Gust 13 108-118 hhmm In hours and minutes (24 hour clock)
See Met Office documentation

More information about Wind network is available in the documentation provided by the Met Office.

HEADER	PARAMETER	FIELDS	COLUMNS	UNITS	COMMENTS
ID	Station Number	1	1-8	-	Wind observing site identification
IDTYPE	-	2	9-17	-	Wind observing site identification
MET_DOM	Meteorological Domain	3	18-28	-	Message types
YEAR	Year	4	29-35	-	4 characters
MON	Month	5	36-43	-	1 or 2 characters (from 1 to 12)
DAY	Day	6	44-51	-	1 or 2 characters (from 1 to 31max)
END_HOUR	Hour	7	52-61	-	Hour of observation from 0 to 2300
COUNT	Hour count	7	62-69	-	See COUNT definition
MDIR	Mean Wind Direction	9	70-77	degree true	The wind direction from which the wind blows, is measured in Degrees (true). The entry for an east wind is 090, that for a south wind 180 and so on clockwise. Note that zero values in both wind speed and wind direction fields indicate that there was no wind blowing at the time of observation. See Met Office documentation
MSPEED	Mean Wind Speed	10	78-85	knots	Note that those mean wind speed values are the total of the daily measurements, that is, a daily mean up to the reporting time. Please divide value by 24 to get the daily mean. Note also that zero values in both wind speed and wind direction fields indicate that there was no wind blowing at the time of observation. See Met Office documentation
GUST_DIR	Max Gust Direction	11	86-95	degree true	See Met Office documentation
GUST_SPEED	Max Gust Speed	12	96-107	knots	See Met Office documentation
GUST_TIME	Time of Maximum Gust	13	108-118	hhmm	In hours and minutes (24 hour clock) See Met Office documentation