Raw Data Documentation

An easy way to get started is to go to the Raw Data Form and set up a query similar to what you want. After you submit the query, you can copy the query specification from your browser's address bar and edit it from there.

This documentation is for developers interested in pulling data from the CoAgMet website. Below is an example of a data query:

https://coagmet.colostate.edu/rawdata_results.php?station=FTC01&start_date=1999-01-01&end_date=2000-01-02&daily=1&qc=1&etr=1

A breakdown:

https://coagmet.colostate.edu/rawdata_results.php

Our script that dispenses raw data. The URL for this shouldn't change, but if it does it'll be the same script called on by the Raw Data Access Page. HTTPS is recommended but HTTP will still work fine.

?

Tells the webserver that arguments are being passed.

station=FTC01

The station you wish to retrieve data from. This must be a 5 character long identifier. Consult the list of stations and their IDs.

&

This must be appended after every argument if there is a argument following it.

start_date=1999-01-01

The beginning date of your query. This must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD to work. 1999-1-1 will not work.

end_date=2000-01-02

The end date of your query. This must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD to work. 2000-1-1 will not work.

daily=1 and/or hourly=1 and/or 5min=1

You must append one or more of daily=1 or hourly=1 or 5min=1 depending on the time interval(s) you want. You may ask for multiple data intervals, but it is up to you to determine what's what.

qc=1

Now that we do quality control on our data, you may request our QC'd data by adding qc=1 to the query string. If you want to keep retrieving the raw (i.e. not QC'd) data, use qc=0 or just leave it off the query parameters.

etr=1

If you want to retrieve Reference ET values you may append etr=1 to the query string. Note that this is only available for daily and hourly data. ET values will appear at the end of each line of data; see below for details. Either use etr=0 or just leave this parameter off the query string if you do not want to retrieve ET parameters.

Please try to make as few queries on our database as possible. If you must grab 100 days worth of data for example, try do it in one request, not multiple ones.

CoAgMet Daily Data Format

  1. Datetime (in the format YYYY-MM-DD)
  2. Mean Temperature (Celsius)
  3. Maximum Temperature (Celsius)
  4. Time of Maximum Temperature (HH:MM:SS)
  5. Minimum Temperature (Celsius)
  6. Time of Minimum Temperature (HH:MM:SS)
  7. Vapor Pressure (kPa)
  8. Maximum Relative Humidity (Fraction)
  9. Time of Maximum Relative Humidity (HH:MM:SS)
  10. Minimum Relative Humidity (Fraction)
  11. Time of Minimum Relative Humidity (HH:MM:SS)
  12. Solar Radiation (MJ/m^2)
  13. Wind_Run (km/day)
  14. Precipitation (millimeters)
  15. Maximum Soil Temperature at 5cm (Celsius)
  16. Time of Maximum Soil Temperature at 5cm (HH:MM:SS)
  17. Minimum Soil Temperature at 5cm (Celsius)
  18. Time of Minimum Soil Temperature at 5cm (HH:MM:SS)
  19. Maximum Soil Temperature at 15cm (Celsius)
  20. Time of Maximum Soil Temperature at 15cm (HH:MM:SS)
  21. Minimum Soil Temperature at 15cm (Celsius)
  22. Time of Minimum Soil Temperature at 15cm (HH:MM:SS)
  23. Battery Voltage
  24. Year of data
  25. Maximum daily wind gust (m/s)
  26. Time of maximum daily wind gust (min into day NOT HH:MM as other max/min)
  27. Direction of maximum daily wind gust (deg)
  28. ASCE Reference Evapotranspiration Model (mm)*
  29. Penman-Kimberly Ref. Evapotranspiration Model (mm)*
  30. Summed hourly ASCE Ref. ET (mm)*

* = only when ET has been requested

CoAgMet Hourly Data Format

  1. Datetime (in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
  2. Mean Temperature (Celsius)
  3. Relative Humidity (Fraction)
  4. Vapor Pressure (kPa)
  5. Solar Radiation (kJ/m^2 * min)
  6. Mean Wind Speed (m/s)
  7. Vector Average Wind Direction (in Degrees, 0 and 360 being north)
  8. Standard Deviation of Wind Direction (Degrees)
  9. Precipitation (millimeters)
  10. Mean Soil Temp at 5cm (Celsius)
  11. Mean Soil Temp at 15cm (Celsius)
  12. Wind Gust (m/s)
  13. Wind Gust Time (minutes into day)
  14. Wind Gust Direction (Degrees)
  15. ASCE hourly Reference Evapotranspiration Model (mm)*

* = only when ET has been requested

CoAgMet Five Minute Data Format

  1. Datetime (in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
  2. Battery Voltage*
  3. Mean Temperature (Celsius)
  4. Relative Humidity (Fraction)
  5. Vapor Pressure (kPa)
  6. Solar Radiation (kJ/m^2 * min)
  7. Mean Wind Speed (m/s)
  8. Vector Average Wind Direction (in Degrees, 0 and 360 being north)
  9. Standard Deviation of Wind Direction (Degrees)
  10. Precipitation (millimeters)
  11. Mean Soil Temp at 5cm (Celsius)
  12. Mean Soil Temp at 15cm (Celsius)
  13. Wind Gust (m/s)
  14. Wind Gust Time (minutes into day)
  15. Wind Gust Direction (Degrees)

* - deprecated

Evapotranspiration is not available for 5-minute data.