Climate

The climate is an important aspect of the environment we live in, affecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Humans are connected to and are a part of their natural environment, meaning that the climate we live in impacts our health and quality of life. In recent years, concerns about the influence of human activities on climate change have increased. Regardless of the political and social debates, changes in the climate have the potential to affect the public's health.

There is an important difference between "weather" and "climate".

  • "Weather" is what happens in a specific place in the atmosphere on a given day.
  • "Climate" refers to weather patterns over a period of time. As meteorologists say, "climate is what you expect, weather is what you get."

The Tracking Network has data and information on the climate conditions of temperature and precipitation. The intent is to show this data together with other measures like heat related illness, heart attacks, and air quality to identify trends that would inspire further research to investigate links between climate exposure and health outcomes.

About Climate Data

The climate conditions data used in the Tracking Network were obtained through the Iowa State University Climate Science Program and includes data from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

What do these data tell us?

  • The Average Temperature, Maximum High Temperature, and Minimum Low Temperature by county for the selected month and year, and how these measures vary over time.
  • The Total Precipitation recorded in a county for the selected month and year, and how this measure vary over time.
  • The number of High Heat days that occur in a county for the selected month and year, and how this measure vary over time.

How can we use these data?

  • The data provides summary information on temperature and precipitation data that can provide information on climate conditions and trends over time.
  • These data can be used to determine the potential for public health impacts from temperature or precipitation extremes, and extreme weather events over time.
  • State and local partners can use the data for program planning and evaluation.
  • Conduct ecologic comparisons of climate conditions data with various health outcomes data to help identify trends and possible correlation that would inspire further research to investigate links between exposure and outcome.

What can these data not tell us?

  • The causes of extreme weather events.
  • If an individual health problem is caused by temperature or precipitation extremes, and extreme weather events.
  • A complete picture of the climate in Iowa and how or why it may change over time.
  • These data are not gathered specifically to assess how climate conditions impact health however, they can be used to determine the potential for public health impacts from temperature or precipitation extremes, and extreme weather events over time.

What are the sources of the data?

  • Climate data on the Tracking Network includes data compiled by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet from multiple weather and climate monitoring networks.
  • Information on the data and networks included can be found on the Iowa Environmental Mesonet website.

What time period of data is available?

  • The Iowa Public Health Tracking portal displays temperature and precipitation data from the year 2000 through the most recent year of data available.

How are High-Heat days defined from the data?

  • When the daily high temperature recorded was at or above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, that day is counted as a High-Heat Day. So a value of ‘5’ would represent that there were five days in a given month with the daily high temperature at or above 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • When the daily overnight low temperature recorded was at or above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, that day is counted as a High-Heat Day. So a value of ‘5’ would represent that there were five days in a given month with the daily overnight low temperature recorded was at or above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

What are the limitations of the data?

  • These data are compiled from multiple sources and networks of weather monitoring stations in Iowa and are a subset of the data collected by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. Specific information and details about cooperating member networks can be found on the Iowa Environmental Mesonet website.
  • These data are aggregated to the county level based on the location of contributing weather monitoring stations. Some counties may not have an observation station available for this dataset, in which case an interpolation is done between neighboring counties with data. The single county value does not capture sub-county scale variability that does happen.

Climate Resource Links