Climate Toolbox
Many of my coworkers use (and develop!) tools on the Climate Toolbox for their research. Here is a brief introduction to the resources available on the Toolbox!
When you open the Climate Toolbox, you will see a page with a long list of available tools. You can also sort them by category: agriculture, climate, fire, and water.
Photo Credit: Climate Toolbox
Here are examples of one tool per category:
Seasonal Forecast Graphs (Agriculture Tools)
Photo Credit: Seasonal Forecast Graphs, Climate Toolbox: Forecast of Mean Temperature Difference from Average for Colorado, 1-Month Average, °C.
The Seasonal Forecast Graphs tool allows users to compile climate forecasts for the next seven months for a given location. Users can customize the variable (mean temp., mean precip., mean temp. difference from average, or precip. percent of average).
Historical Drought Stripes (Climate Tools)
Photo Credit: Historical Drought Stripes, Climate Toolbox: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) of Colorado Springs, CO, 2000-2024
The Historical Drought Stripes tool allows the user to view past periods of short- and long- term drought for data averaged over 2.5 square miles of given coordinates. Users can customize the drought metric, time scale, and date range.
Climate Scenarios (Fire Tools)
Photo Credit: Climate Scenarios, Climate Toolbox: Colorado Climate Scenarios under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5
This tool had tons of data options - users can customize locations, scenarios, seasonal climate metrics, and annual climate metrics. You can download the output as a CSV file or a PNG chart.
Photo Credit: Climate Scenarios, Climate Toolbox: Options
Future Boxplots (Water Tools)
Photo Credit: Future Boxplot, Climate Toolbox: Summer Precipitation in Colorado under RCP4.5
Users can choose location, calendar time period, future scenario, and variable (temp., precip., etc).
Photo Credit: Future Boxplots Climate Toolbox Key
The Toolbox is super easy to use - making every graph in this post took less than ten minutes! Plus, it’s accessible for users regardless of familiarity with data science and statistics. Check it out!
