NOAA's Weather and Climate Toolkit offers access to traditionally hard-to-use weather data in an accessible, visual format.

Using data to examine extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes can be difficult when they require separate data files for each time slice of the events. These data files can easily number from the hundreds to well over a thousand. The Weather and Climate Toolkit offers a first step to getting that data into a workable format. The toolkit can also help you get data you already have into various formats.

The toolkit homepage also offers access to data, image galleries, user guides, and tutorials via links in the blue box on the left-hand side of the page.

Some popular datasets, such as the U.S. Drought Monitor, are hardwired into the tool. For larger datasets, such as NEXRAD or satellite data, it may be easiest to order data through the “Quick Links” on the left-hand side of the home page.