How to Search for Data
The Illinois State Climatologist Data web site was designed to provide climate data in a useable format
that is easy to view or download.
"Choose a Station" by clicking on it. Choose the data you want by specifying the range of years in which you're interested under
"Duration (Years)" and checking "Climate Parameters" of interest. By default, all data parameters are selected. Seasonal data is also included by default.
Then click the "Get Data" button. If you wish to exclude the seasonal data, uncheck the "Include seasonal data" checkbox.
Data Search Tips
The data contained in the Climatologist's database spans many years. Retrieving data over a span of
the entire database, or a very large part of it, requires a fast Internet connection.
If you access the Internet via modem and are having trouble viewing or downloading data,
try limiting your search to only a few years at a time. Using this technique, you will be able to download
"chunks" of the data to your computer. After you retrieve all of your desired data, you can then
"assemble" it into a single text file on your own computer.
The speed of your search will also depend on the number of climate parameters that you select.
The more you select, the slower your search will be.
If you have trouble getting data from this web site, and wish to obtain it by other means,
please contact the State Climatologist Office.
Making & Downloading a Data Text File
After you perform a data search, you can create a text file and then download it to
your computer. This text file may be imported into any spreadsheet program that accepts comma-delimited formats. Once you are viewing data on the "Data Results for Station XXXXXX (YYYYYY)" page,
locate and click the button at the bottom of the page titled "Make this a Text File". The resultant page will display
the message "CREATING FILE". Once the "FILE CREATED" message has been displayed, your text file
has been created. Your file will be named using a string of numbers, followed by ".txt". You may download
the text file by right-clicking on it and choosing "Save Link Target As..." (Netscape/Mozilla), "Save Target As..." (Internet
Explorer), "Save Link As..." (Firefox), or "Save link document as..." (Opera).
How to Download Data
Please see "Help Making & Downloading a Data Text File", located above.
Data Information (Metadata)
Information about the data contained in the State Climatologist Database can be found on the Data
Information page.
Disclaimer
Please read our Data Disclaimer before continuing.