Frequently Asked Questions

During the last years some generall questions about HISTALP and available data occured repeatedly. The answers to such questions can be found beneath:

Where can I download the data and how can I open it?

The data can be downloaded from the download areas. Use the link 'Datasets' to see all possibilities. The different datasets are available in different formats. zip-Files might be opend by Softwares like 7-ZIP or WinZip. dat-Files might be opened by any Text-Editor or in Excel. Netcdf-Data can viewed with ncview using Linux or by the use of programming softwares like R, Phyton or matlab for example. Unfortunatly, due to the size of the data no other format seemed appropriate.

For time series data (Station data, CRSM Data) the first columne contains the year of the value, the next 12 columns contain the monthly values (January to December), the next 4 columns contain the values for spring (March-May), summer (June-August), autumn (September to November) and winter (December to next year's February) and the next two colums contain the values for the summer halfyear (April to September) and winter halfyear (October to next year's March) while the last column contains the yearly value. The values for winter and winter halfyear are assigned to the year the December value belongs to.
For the 1x1°-gridded data the order of the different columns is the same, but here the timeseries are grouped by the grid points. The coordinate of the gridpoint are given above the time series (in the order of longitude and latitude).
The 5x5' dataset is only available as netcdf and the format of this file answers the international guidelines. Missing values are marked by 99999 or 999999 depending on the dataset.

Yes, it is. If you encounter any problems to get it into a usefull format use 'Space' as delimiter and confirm the option to handle more than one delimiter as one.

Absolute values are available for station data and 5x5' gridded datasets. CRSM-Data and 1x1° gridded datasets are available as anomalies only. Please keep in mind that the anomalies of CRSM-Data is available for 2 different reference periods while the 1x1° gridded datasets are only available as anomalies to the reference period 1961-1990.

Changes like stations relocation or changes in the measurement setup influence the measurments of meteorological stations. Long time series, which are used for climate research, should therefore not be used in their original form as those chances might influence climate analyses like trends for example. During homogenisation non-climatic signals are removed from the time serie according the current state-of-the-art.

Yes, you can use the data in your publication. Please respect the copyright and cite HISTALP by using the publication:
Auer I, Böhm R, Jurkovic A, Lipa W, Orlik A, Potzmann R, Schöner W, Ungersböck M, Matulla C, Briffa K, Jones PD, Efthymiadis D, Brunetti M, Nanni T, Maugeri M, Mercalli L, Mestre O, Moisselin J-M, Begert M, Müller-Westermeier G, Kveton V, Bochnicek O, Stastny P, Lapin M, Szalai S, Szentimrey T, Cegnar T, Dolinar M, Gajic-Capka M, Zaninovic K, Majstorovic Z, Nieplova E, 2007. HISTALP – Historical instrumental climatological surface time series of the greater Alpine region 1760-2003. International Journal of Climatology 27: 17-46

Sorry, all the available data is on the webpage. Until now gridded values are not updated regularly (but we are planning to do this. Nevertheless it might still be some time until it is done.) Station data especially from Austria is updated regularly (when publishing the newsletter). We are trying to have the international data updated once a year.

No, gridded data in HISTALP is only available in those two resolutions.

Sorry, HISTALP focuses on monthly data (but we plan to include some homogenised daily datasets of Austria in the future). For station data in higher temporal resolution, please contact the according national weather service of the data you need.

Please have a look at the page containing the information of the specific dataset. You will find a short description of the dataset including information on the according literature, where you can find more information on the methodes and which you can cite, if you use the dataset in your work.

Those data can not be distributed without the permission of the national weather services. In case of Switzerland we will be able to do this for you, for the stations included in HISTALP. In this case please write an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it For French data please contact Météo France directly: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

In case you encounter any difficulties or have any question for which you didn't find the answer in the content of the webpage or the answers above, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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