WBAN.XLS

WBAN: (Weather-Bureau-Army-Navy) WBAN numbers were the first major attempt at a coordinated station numbering scheme among 
several weather reporting authorities. Original participants in the WBAN number plans were the United States Weather Bureau, 
Air Force, Navy, and Army; the Canadian Department of Transportation; and certain German and Korean stations in close 
cooperation with the US Weather Services. It is a five-digit station identifier that is used at the NCDC for digital data 
storage and general station identification purposes. Invented in the 1950’s, WBAN station numbers were first used as identifers 
for stations reporting meteorological observations on the then standard WBAN series forms such as WBAN 10A, WBAN 10B and WBAN 10C.
This is the official WBAN master station list and it is updated monthly. This report is in a spreadsheet format.


FIELD                             DESCRIPTION
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Region                            Three digit number that describes a particular 10 degree square in which a station is located.
                                  The globe is divided into 8 different areas or squares, with 9 and 0 being for excess.
                                  First position is the number of the area or square the station is located in. 
                                  The second position is the first number of latitude of the station. 
                                  The final digit is the second number of the longitude.
                                                                                                                                                 
WBAN Number                       Used at NCDC for digital data storage and general station identification.                                                                                               

Station name                      Name of station, may contain characters, numbers, or symbols.                                                                                               

State                             USPS two character alphabetic abbreviation for each state.                                                                                               

County                            Name of county.                                                                                               

Airport/Field/Extended Name       The name of the airport or other place where the station is located.                                                                                               

Station type                      Type of observing programs associated with the station.                                                                                               

Comments                          Used to explain any other pertinent information for the station such who requested the 
                                  WBAN be assigned. Sometomes contains call sign for the station.

Date Assigned                     Used to track when a WBAN is assigned, was added to spreadsheet in February 2005.
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