General Usage

Stations

weathercan includes a data frame called stations which lists available stations and their details (including station_id.

head(stations)

## # A tibble: 6 x 14
##   prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##   <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
## 1 AB    DAYSLAND           1795 301AR54        NA <NA>   52.9 -112.  689. Etc/… day     
## 2 AB    DAYSLAND           1795 301AR54        NA <NA>   52.9 -112.  689. Etc/… hour    
## 3 AB    DAYSLAND           1795 301AR54        NA <NA>   52.9 -112.  689. Etc/… month   
## 4 AB    EDMONTON CO…       1796 301BK03        NA <NA>   53.6 -114.  671. Etc/… day     
## 5 AB    EDMONTON CO…       1796 301BK03        NA <NA>   53.6 -114.  671. Etc/… hour    
## 6 AB    EDMONTON CO…       1796 301BK03        NA <NA>   53.6 -114.  671. Etc/… month   
## # … with 3 more variables

You can look through this data frame directly, or you can use the stations_search function:

stations_search("Kamloops")

## # A tibble: 40 x 14
##    prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##    <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
##  1 BC    KAMLOOPS           1274 1163779        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  379. Etc/… day     
##  2 BC    KAMLOOPS           1274 1163779        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  379. Etc/… month   
##  3 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… day     
##  4 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
##  5 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… month   
##  6 BC    KAMLOOPS A        51423 1163781     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… day     
##  7 BC    KAMLOOPS A        51423 1163781     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
##  8 BC    KAMLOOPS AF…       1276 1163790        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  701  Etc/… day     
##  9 BC    KAMLOOPS AF…       1276 1163790        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  701  Etc/… month   
## 10 BC    KAMLOOPS AUT      42203 1163842     71741 ZKA    50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… day     
## # … with 30 more rows, and 3 more variables

You can narrow down your search by specifying time intervals (options are “hour”, “day”, or “month”):

stations_search("Kamloops", interval = "hour")

## # A tibble: 3 x 14
##   prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##   <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
## 1 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
## 2 BC    KAMLOOPS A        51423 1163781     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
## 3 BC    KAMLOOPS AUT      42203 1163842     71741 ZKA    50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… hour    
## # … with 3 more variables

You can specify more than one interval:

stations_search("Kamloops", interval = c("hour", "month"))

## # A tibble: 21 x 14
##    prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##    <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
##  1 BC    KAMLOOPS           1274 1163779        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  379. Etc/… month   
##  2 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
##  3 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… month   
##  4 BC    KAMLOOPS A        51423 1163781     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
##  5 BC    KAMLOOPS AF…       1276 1163790        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  701  Etc/… month   
##  6 BC    KAMLOOPS AUT      42203 1163842     71741 ZKA    50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… hour    
##  7 BC    KAMLOOPS AUT      42203 1163842     71741 ZKA    50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… month   
##  8 BC    KAMLOOPS CDA       1277 1163810        NA <NA>   50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… month   
##  9 BC    KAMLOOPS CH…       1278 1163814        NA <NA>   50.7 -121.  556. Etc/… month   
## 10 BC    KAMLOOPS CH…       1279 1163815        NA <NA>   50.6 -121.  701  Etc/… month   
## # … with 11 more rows, and 3 more variables

You can also search by proximity. These results include a new column distance specifying the distance in km from the coordinates:

stations_search(coords = c(50.667492, -120.329049), dist = 20, interval = "hour")

## # A tibble: 3 x 15
##   prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##   <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
## 1 BC    KAMLOOPS A         1275 1163780     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
## 2 BC    KAMLOOPS AUT      42203 1163842     71741 ZKA    50.7 -120.  345  Etc/… hour    
## 3 BC    KAMLOOPS A        51423 1163781     71887 YKA    50.7 -120.  345. Etc/… hour    
## # … with 4 more variables

We can also perform more complex searches using filter() function from the dplyr package:

BCstations <- stations %>%
  filter(prov %in% c("BC")) %>%
  filter(interval == "hour") %>%
  filter(lat > 49 & lat < 49.5) %>%
  filter(lon > -119 & lon < -116) %>%
  filter(start <= 2002) %>%
  filter(end >= 2016)
BCstations

## # A tibble: 3 x 14
##   prov  station_name station_id climate_id WMO_id TC_id   lat   lon  elev tz    interval
##   <chr> <chr>             <dbl> <chr>       <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr>   
## 1 BC    CRESTON CAM…       6838 114B1F0     71770 WJR    49.1 -116.  641. Etc/… hour    
## 2 BC    NELSON CS          6839 1145M29     71776 WNM    49.5 -117.  535. Etc/… hour    
## 3 BC    WARFIELD RCS      31067 1148705     71401 XWF    49.1 -118.  567. Etc/… hour    
## # … with 3 more variables

## weather_dl() accepts numbers so we can create a vector to input into weather:
stn_vector <- BCstations$station_id 
stn_vector

## [1]  6838  6839 31067

Searching a bleeding edge updated list of stations:

s <- stations_dl() # Download complete stations list
stations_search("Saskatoon", stn = s) # Specify the new stations list to search

Weather

Once you have your station_id(s) you can download weather data:

kam <- weather_dl(station_ids = 51423, start = "2016-01-01", end = "2016-02-15")

## As of weathercan v0.3.0 time display is either local time or UTC
## See Details under ?weather_dl for more information.
## This message is shown once per session

kam

## # A tibble: 1,104 x 35
##    station_name station_id station_operator prov    lat   lon  elev climate_id WMO_id
##    <chr>             <dbl> <lgl>            <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr>      <chr> 
##  1 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  2 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  3 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  4 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  5 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  6 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  7 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  8 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
##  9 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
## 10 KAMLOOPS A        51423 NA               BC     50.7 -120.  345. 1163781    71887 
## # … with 1,094 more rows, and 26 more variables

You can also download data from multiple stations at once:

kam.pg <- weather_dl(station_ids = c(48248, 51423), start = "2016-01-01", end = "2016-02-15")
                    
kam.pg

## # A tibble: 2,208 x 35
##    station_name station_id station_operator prov    lat   lon  elev climate_id WMO_id
##    <chr>             <dbl> <lgl>            <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr>      <chr> 
##  1 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  2 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  3 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  4 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  5 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  6 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  7 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  8 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
##  9 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
## 10 PRINCE GEOR…      48248 NA               BC     53.9 -123.   680 1096453    71302 
## # … with 2,198 more rows, and 26 more variables

And plot it:

ggplot(data = kam.pg, aes(x = time, y = temp, group = station_name, colour = station_name)) +
  theme(legend.position = "top") +
  geom_line() +
  theme_minimal()

Or you can use the vector created above:

stn_vec_df <- weather_dl(station_ids = stn_vector, start = "2016-01-01", end = "2016-02-15")

stn_vec_df

## # A tibble: 3,312 x 35
##    station_name station_id station_operator prov    lat   lon  elev climate_id WMO_id
##    <chr>             <dbl> <lgl>            <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr>      <chr> 
##  1 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  2 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  3 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  4 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  5 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  6 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  7 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  8 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
##  9 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
## 10 CRESTON CAM…       6838 NA               BC     49.1 -116.  641. 114B1F0    71770 
## # … with 3,302 more rows, and 26 more variables

For more information on the data flags, see the Flags vignette, for more information on units and terms, see the Terms and Units vignette.

General Usage

Steffi LaZerte

2020-09-01

Stations

Weather