VegSpec Help
Frequently Asked Questions
15. Where does VegSpec get its climate data?
VegSpec uses climate data from two different sources.
The VegSpec database includes climate information from about 4,888 climate stations throughout the United States.
VegSpec uses PRISM climate data. PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) is an analytical tool developed at Oregon State University that uses point data, a digital elevation model, and other spatial data sets to generate 4 km gridded estimates of monthly and yearly climatic parameters, such as precipitation, temperature, and frost dates.
With known UTM or Latitude - Longitude coordinates, VegSpec can determine all necessary climate data from the 4 km spatial grid developed by PRISM. This option is currently not available in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico.