Large Data Set

• 5 UK Weather Stations:

  • Leuchars
  • Leeming
  • Heathrow
  • Hurn
  • Camborne
• 3 International Weather Stations:

  • Jacksonville
  • Perth
  • Beijing
• Variables:

  • Daily Mean Temperature
  • Daily Total Rainfall
  • Daily Total Sunshine
  • Daily Maximum Relative Humidity
  • Daily Mean Windspeed
  • Daily Maximum Gust
  • Daily Mean Wind Direction
  • Daily Maximum Gust Direction
  • Cloud cover
  • Visibility
  • Pressure
• The two time periods are between May to October 1987 and May to October 2015
• Daily Mean Temperature:

  • measured in degrees celsius
  • unavailable readings marked as "n/a"
  • measured from 9:00 to 9:00 the next day (GMT)
• Daily Total Rainfall:

  • measured in mm
  • "tr" (trace) means between 0-0.05mm rainfall
  • no rainfall marked as 0
  • in Beijing, Jacksonville and Perth, the daily total rainfall is measured in time raining (0-24 hours)
• Daily Total Sunshine:

  • this is measured by an apparatus "that measures the amount of solar radiation over a certain threshold"
  • recorded in numbers of hours and tenths of hours (e.g. 5.2 hours)
• Daily Maximum Relative Humidity:

  • measured as "how close the air is to being saturated with water vapour"
  • about 95% indicates mist or fog
• Daily Mean Windspeed, Daily Maximum Gust, Daily Mean Wind Direction and Daily Mean Gust Direction:

  • measured in knots (1 knot = 1.15 mph)
  • measured from 0:00 to 0:00 the next day (GMT)
  • direction measured in a bearing (e.g a 270* wind is blowing from the west)
  • daily mean windspeed is also converted using the Beaufort Scale
• Beaufort Scale:

  • 0 - calm
  • 1 - light air
  • 2 - light breeze
  • 3 - gentle breeze
  • 4 - moderate breeze
  • 5 - fresh breeze
  • 6 - strong breeze
  • 7 - near gale
  • 8 - gale
  • 9 - strong gale
  • 10 - storm
  • 11 - violent storm
  • 12 - hurricane
• Visibility:

  • measured in "dam" (decametres)
  • 1 dam = 10m
  • visibility is defined as the greatest distance at which an object can be seen and recognised in daylight, or at night could be seen and recognised if the general illumination were raised to daylight level
• Pressure:

  • measured in "hPa" (hectopascals)
  • the mean sea level pressure has been calculated from a measurement made at station level
• Cloud Cover:

  • measured in oktas (eights of sky covered in clouds)
  • 0 - sky completely clear
  • 4 - sky half cloudy
  • 8 - sky completely cloudy
  • 9 - sky obstructed from view