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This CD-ROM contains historical (1901-1994) hail-day
frequency data for 1,061 weather stations in 27 states with the
greatest hail loss in the contiguous U.S. (Pacific Northwest, Rocky
Mountains, High Plains, Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Southeast). The
data from 22 first order stations in the 21 other states are also
included. The hail-day data underwent extensive testing for quality
A third data set for the 27 states are the annual
loss cost values based on crop-hail insurance records for 1949-1994.
Loss cost is determined by annual losses divided by annual liability
multiplied by $100, a value that normalizes for past differences in
dollars and liability.
This CD-ROM was created by Changnon Climatologist,
Mahomet, IL. The project to obtain and assess the hail data and to
create the hail database on this CD-ROM was funded under grant
NA76GP0439 from the Office of Global Programs of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as part of the NOAA/NASA
Enhanced Data Set Project, and included funds from NASA's Mission to
Planet Earth and NOAA.
RECENSIONE
Si tratta di un interessante CD, estremamente spartano e conciso sul
piano della presentazione dei dati (tabelle numeriche accompagnate
da una sintesi sull'intero territorio degli Stati Uniti) ma
rimarchevole sul piano dei contenuti. In un paese dalla superficie
di 9,63 milioni di km2 (circa 30 volte l'Italia) questa raccolta
organica e capillare di dati archiviati secondo un unico standard,
oltre che costituire una base informativa di indubbio valore
scientifico e applicativo, induce a riflettere sull'attuale stato di
dispersione e disomogeneità della nostra italica
climatologia.
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