NUS Republican China Weather Database

Systematic data on Chinese weather prior to 1949 is very sparse. Such data is important to better understand both long-term regional climate variability and the social and economic consequences of weather shocks. Here, we compile 463,025 instrumental observations of daily temperature, precipitation, and sunshine at up to 330 sites in China during the Nationalist era, 1912-49. The principal sources are monthly reports of the Institute of Meteorology, Nanjing, North China Meteorological Section of the Japanese Army, and observatories in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. This new dataset provides a valuable dataset for scientific and academic research.

Variable List
    A. Name: station
       Description: Station

    B. Name: author
       Description: Author

    C. Name: source
       Description: Source

    D. Name: archive
       Description: Archive

    E. Name: year
       Description: Year

    F. Name: month
       Description: Month

    G. Name: day
       Description: Day

    H. Name: tmin
       Description: Daily low temperature

    I. Name: tmax
       Description: Daily high temperature

    J. Name: prec
       Description: Daily precipitation

    K. Name: ssd
       Description: Daily sunshine hours

    L. Name: archive
       Description: Archive holding source

    M. Name: latitude
       Description: Latitude

    N. Name: longitude
       Description: Longitude

    O. Name: elevation
       Description: Elevation (metres)

    P. Name: minmax
       Description: Minimum temperature exceeds maximum
 
    Q. Name: tmax_jump
       Description: Jump in maximum temperature

    R. Name: tmin_jump 
       Description: Jump in minimum temperature

    S. Name: prec_jump 
       Description: Jump in precipitation

    R. Name: tmin_jump 
       Description: Jump in sunshine hours

    T. Name: tmax_hmm
       Description: Maximum temperature corrected for rounding

    U. Name: tmin_hmm 
       Description: Minimum temperature corrected for rounding

    V. Name: prec_hmm
       Description: Precipitation corrected for rounding

    W. Name: tmin_hmm 
       Description: Sunshine hours corrected for rounding

    X. Name: tmax_bp
       Description: Break point in maximum temperature

    Y. Name: tmin_bp 
       Description: Break point in minimum temperature

    Z. Name: prec_bp 
       Description: Break point in precipitation

   AA. Name: tmin_bp 
       Description: Break point in sunshine hours