UK Hourly Rainfall data - Columns in the RH table

Table Description - Columns in the RH table - How to start filtering the rows of data out

The surface observation data are in a simple ASCII format.

Table Description:

This entity contains rainfall amount (and duration from tilting syphon gauges) during the hour (or hours) ending at the specified time. Normally it will NOT be used to store precipitation measured over 24 hours or more - that will use the Daily Rain (RD) table. However, where a station normally reports 09-21Z and 21-09Z values, an original value which is deemed to be erroneous can be replaced by a 24-hour value. ob_hour_count will be set to the number of hours (always less than 24). The data in this table are of the following types: The identifier is a rainfall station number.

Columns in the RH table:

For the convenience of users, the RH file column headers are available for download in Excel or as a comma separated text file

PK Attribute Description / Units / Precision
* ob_end_time Date and time at end of observation
* id Raingauge number
* id_type Identifier type
* ob_hour_count Observation hour count
* version_num Observation version number - Use the row with '1', as this has been quality checked by the Met Office
* met_domain_name Message type
  src_id Unique source identifier or station site number
  rec_st_ind State indicator for the record**
  prcp_amt Precipitation amount
Units = 1mm, reported to the nearest 0.1 mm
  prcp_dur Precipitation duration (<24 hr)
minutes
  prcp_amt_q QC code - precipitation amount**
  prcp_dur_q QC code - precipitation duration**
  meto_stmp_time Met Office receipt stamp time
  midas_stmp_etime Elapsed time to storage in MIDAS
minutes
  prcp_amt_j Descriptor - precipitation amount**


** Details available to registered users only.

More information about the Met Office surface data is available in the documentation provided by the Met Office.

How to start filtering the rows of data out:

  1. As the data arrive at the Met Office it undergoes quality control to check that the data are correct and consistent with the surrounding data points. Whether the process has occured or not is indicated by the version number (1 is the one to use as indicated in the table above).

  2. To show the progress of the data through the quality control the various variables will have an associated _q value (e.g. prcp_amt_q). This _q value will have different values for each record (see details in table above).

  3. While the Met Office MIDAS system overwrites the existing entry in their database the BADC's MIDAS entries do not as the BADC takes snapshots of the the MIDAS database from time to time leading to duplicate entries occuring in our archive. If duplicate records are found, check the associated meto_stmp_time to determine which record is the most recent one - this is the one to use and the other(s) can be ignored.