Week 2: A Dig For Data and The Relevance of Marine Weather

This week, I focused on refining my method in my senior project. I have been looking into exactly what specific available models I should use to draw my conclusions from. In addition, I have been searching for large historical data sets I can input into models to test my hypotheses. After some searching, I discovered the NOAA has a fairly large and detailed set of historical weather data. A two month log of weather in my zip code alone requires a bulky, compressed file. Due to an issue with their servers, I was unable to properly download said bulky, compressed zip file, however, I do now know where to acquire a historical data set for my testing use. Additionally, the NOAA website includes specific historical data pertaining to severe weather and storm events.

Interestingly, the NOAA also has data on marine weather. Something I hadn’t considered before is how marine weather patterns could have an affect on land weather patterns, even more so for Northeast Virginia, as we are relatively close to marine environments. Marine weather can create fog, trigger thunderstorms, and cause severe rainfall. The NOAA has an additional log for marine data specifically, and I will be taking that data into account as well when I test my models. The marine data might affect Fairfax County less because it is not a coastal county (although we do border one); if that happens, I will report on it if necessary.

Works Cited:

National Centers for Environmental Information. Climate Data Online: Data Tools. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools. Accessed 12 March 2026.