{"id":273,"date":"2017-11-01T18:21:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T18:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=273"},"modified":"2025-06-09T14:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T14:04:39","slug":"importing-precipitation-from-noaa-atlas-14","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/knowledge-base\/importing-precipitation-from-noaa-atlas-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Importing Precipitation from NOAA Atlas 14"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rather than type in each and every rainfall value, Hydrology Studio offers a way to import this data directly into your Precipitation table. Provided your state is one which is listed on this atlas (most are), you can quickly import this data by first downloading it from NOAA’s Precipitation Frequency Data Server. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Download the rainfall data from NOAA<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Import it Into Hydrology Studio’s Rainfall Wizard<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Download the Rainfall File from NOAA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To start, click the [NOAA] button on the Rainfall Wizard’s Ribbon Toolbar to open the web server. (If you haven’t already opened the Rainfall Wizard window, click the [Rainfall] button on the Main Window to open the Rainfall Wizard.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n \t\t
    \r\n \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t

    \r\n \t\t\t\t\tBe sure to set the Data type to “precipitation depth” as shown below \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t<\/div>\r\n \t\t\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Then click on your state and move the red cross hair to your exact location. Not all states in the Pacific Northwest are included in NOAA. Progress is being made. Be sure to check back periodically at the NOAA site for updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A table at the bottom of that window will populate with your rainfall data. And at the bottom of the table you’ll see an option to download it as a .csv file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Click [Submit]. You’ll see one of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Click the down arrow and select “Show in folder”. Then you can cut and paste this file to your Hydrology > Rainfall folder. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Then choose Save as from the dialog box and save this file as a .csv or .txt file, preferably in your Hydrology Studio > Rainfall folder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n \t\t

    \r\n \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t

    \r\n \t\t\t\t\tDo not open in a spreadsheet and resave as this may modify the file format. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t<\/div>\r\n \t\t\n\n\n\n

    Import Into Hydrology Studio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Next, back at the Rainfall Wizard, click on the Precipitation tab to view the Precipitation Manager. Clear all of the values from the table by clicking the [Clear] button. Then click the [Import] button and select “NOAA Atlas 14”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Select the file you just downloaded from NOAA and click [Open].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Click [Apply].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All of the precipitation amounts corresponding to the built-in storms will now show data for your selected location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Save your new data<\/strong> by clicking the [Save] button and specifying a name for your file. A “.pcp” extension will applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This .pcp file will automatically load each time you launch Hydrology Studio. Any NRCS-type hydrographs will use this rainfall data. There’s no need to return back to this window unless you need to change locations. You can change this file any time afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Click the [Open] or [Save] buttons to open or save an existing .pcp file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Does Not Populate Custom, FDOT or Austin Storm Distributions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Please note that the import feature will not populate the precipitation values on Custom Distributions as the program does not know the total durations of those storms. The import function only applies to the standard storms. Custom, FDOT and Austin Storm precipitations will need to be entered manually in the Rainfall Wizard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    File Contents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The file will open in your web browser, or other text viewer, and will look similar to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Point precipitation frequency estimates (inches)
    NOAA Atlas 14, Volume 1, Version 5
    Data type: Precipitation depth
    Time series type: Partial duration
    Project area: Southwest
    Latitude (decimal degrees): 34.4000
    Longitude (decimal degrees): -111.7000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTIMATES
    by duration for ARI:, 1,2,5,10,25,50,100,200,500,1000 years
    5-min:, 0.24,0.31,0.42,0.51,0.64,0.74,0.85,0.97,1.15,1.29
    10-min:, 0.37,0.48,0.65,0.78,0.97,1.13,1.30,1.48,1.75,1.97
    15-min:, 0.46,0.59,0.80,0.97,1.21,1.40,1.61,1.84,2.17,2.44
    30-min:, 0.62,0.80,1.08,1.30,1.62,1.89,2.17,2.48,2.92,3.28
    60-min:, 0.76,0.98,1.33,1.61,2.01,2.34,2.69,3.07,3.61,4.06
    2-hr:, 0.89,1.14,1.50,1.80,2.24,2.60,2.99,3.41,4.03,4.54
    3-hr:, 0.98,1.24,1.59,1.90,2.33,2.68,3.07,3.50,4.12,4.63
    6-hr:, 1.20,1.50,1.86,2.18,2.64,3.01,3.41,3.84,4.44,4.95
    12-hr:, 1.49,1.85,2.27,2.62,3.09,3.46,3.85,4.23,4.79,5.26
    24-hr:, 1.82,2.28,2.85,3.31,3.94,4.43,4.94,5.47,6.18,6.74
    2-day:, 2.17,2.71,3.39,3.95,4.71,5.32,5.95,6.60,7.49,8.18
    3-day:, 2.33,2.91,3.65,4.25,5.09,5.75,6.43,7.15,8.12,8.90
    4-day:, 2.49,3.12,3.91,4.56,5.46,6.17,6.92,7.70,8.76,9.61
    7-day:, 2.90,3.62,4.52,5.25,6.26,7.05,7.88,8.72,9.89,10.80
    10-day:, 3.23,4.03,5.00,5.76,6.79,7.58,8.38,9.19,10.30,11.16
    20-day:, 4.15,5.17,6.32,7.18,8.28,9.08,9.87,10.62,11.57,12.26
    30-day:, 4.96,6.18,7.55,8.58,9.88,10.83,11.76,12.65,13.77,14.58
    45-day:, 5.96,7.44,9.11,10.38,12.02,13.23,14.42,15.58,17.06,18.14
    60-day:, 6.81,8.50,10.35,11.72,13.45,14.70,15.91,17.06,18.49,19.52<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Date\/time (GMT): Thu May 3 18:02:02 2012
    pyRunTime: 0.0390179157257<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Import precipitation and rainfall directly from NOAA Atlas 14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[28],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-273","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-precipitation-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4727,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/273\/revisions\/4727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.hydrologystudio.com\/hydrology-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}