You can search for information about a specific meteorological observing location on our station information page.
Meteorological stations may be identified in three ways:
At least one of these type of identifier is associated with each station. A large number of stations have both an index number and a location indicator assigned to them.
A current list of ICAO (4-letter) location indicators is found in the
ICAO publication "Location Indicators" (7910) which may be obtained
from:
Document Sales Unit
International Civil Aviation Organization
1000 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 400
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H3A 2R2
Telephone: (514) 285-8219
Telex: 05-24513
Fax: (514) 288-4772
Sitatex: YULCAYA
Information about FAA Identifiers
A current list of FAA (3-letter) location indicators is found in the
FAA publication "Location Identifiers" (7350.6) which may be
obtained from:
Superintendent of Documents
Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. U.S.A. 20402
Information about station index numbers
Information on the WMO system of a station index number is reproduced in part below. The following is taken from the WMO Manual On Codes, WMO No. 306.
SYSTEM OF STATION INDEX NUMBERS
1. Meteorological observing stations
A station index number in the form IIiii is included in the
reports of meteorological observations made at land meteorological
station of aboard lightships using land code forms. This group
permits the identification of the meteorological station at which
the observation has been made.
The station index number is composed of the block number (II)
and the station number (iii).
The block number defines the area in which the reporting
station is situated. The station index numbers have been allocated
as follows:
Region I: Africa ..................................... 60000-69999
Region II: Asia ....................................... 20000-20099
20200-21999
23000-25999
28000-32999
35000-36999
38000-39999
40350-48599
48800-49999
50000-59999
Region III: South America ............................. 80000-88999
Region IV: North and Central America .................. 70000-79999
Region V: South-West Pacific .......................... 48600-48799
90000-98999
Region VI: Europe ..................................... 00000-19999
20100-20199
22000-22999
26000-27999
33000-34999
37000-37999
40000-40349
Stations in the Antarctic ............................. 89000-89999
The IIiii Structure
The II or block number is allocated to the services within each Region by regional agreement.
Station numbers iii corresponding to a common block number (II) except 89 are usually distributed so that the zone covered by a block number is divided into horizontal strips; e.g. one of several degrees of latitude. Where possible, station numbers within each strip increase from west to east and the first figure of the 3-figure station number increases from north to south.
Station index numbers for station in the Antarctic are allocated by the Secretary-General in accordance with the following scheme:
NOTE:
The general list of station index numbers is published by the WMO Secretariat
in a separate volume (Volume A of publication WMO - No. 9).
(see the WMO page for further information)
Downloadable files containing station information are available here in two forms.
All stations that have an index number assigned by the WMO are available in this file. The ASCII file contains the following fields in the order specified, delimited by semi-colons. Fields that are empty will be coded as no characters (adjacent delimiters) except where otherwise noted.
| Block Number | 2 digits representing the WMO-assigned block. |
| Station Number | 3 digits representing the WMO-assigned station. |
| ICAO Location Indicator |
4 alphanumeric characters, not all stations in this file have an assigned location indicator. The value "----" is used for stations that do not have an assigned location indicator. |
| Place Name | Common name of station location. |
| State | 2 character abbreviation (included for stations located in the United States only). |
| Country Name | Country name is ISO short English form. |
| WMO Region | digits 1 through 6 representing the corresponding WMO region, 7 stands for the WMO Antarctic region. |
| Station Latitude | DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Station Longitude | DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Upper Air Latitude | DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Upper Air Longitude | DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Station Elevation (Ha) | The station elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown. |
| Upper Air Elevation (Hp) | The upper air elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown. |
| RBSN indicator | P if station is defined by the WMO as belonging to the Regional Basic Synoptic Network, omitted otherwise. |
Download the Station Information Text File keyed by index number:
All stations that have a location indicator assigned by the ICAO are available in this file. The ASCII file contains the following fields in the order specified, delimited by semi-colons. Fields that are empty will be coded as no characters (adjacent delimiters) except where otherwise noted.
| ICAO Location Indicator |
4 alphanumeric characters. |
| Block Number | 2 digits representing the WMO-assigned block. Not all stations in the file have an assigned block number. The value "--" is used for station without an assigned number. |
| Station Number | 3 digits representing the WMO-assigned station. Not all stations in the file have an assigned station number. The value "---" is used for station without an assigned number. |
| Place Name | Common name of station location. |
| State | 2 character abbreviation (included for stations located in the United States only). |
| Country Name | Country name is ISO short English form. |
| WMO Region | digits 1 through 6 representing the corresponding WMO region, 7 stands for the WMO Antarctic region. |
| Station Latitude | DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Station Longitude | DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Upper Air Latitude | DD-MM-SSH where DD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is N for northern hemisphere or S for southern hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Upper Air Longitude | DDD-MM-SSH where DDD is degrees, MM is minutes, SS is seconds and H is E for eastern hemisphere or W for western hemisphere. The seconds value is omitted for those stations where the seconds value is unknown. |
| Station Elevation (Ha) | The station elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown. |
| Upper Air Elevation (Hp) | The upper air elevation in meters. Value is omitted if unknown. |
| RBSN indicator | P if station is defined by the WMO as belonging to the Regional Basic Synoptic Network, omitted otherwise. |
Download the Station Information Text File keyed by location indicator:
You can search for information about a specific meteorological observing location on our station information page.
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