Creating a METAR Climatology Targeting Gradients and Trends Between METARS in the Southwestern U.S. to Examine Impacts on Southern California Weather

This project tests whether nearby National Weather Service METAR observations can fill missing pressure and temperature records at California's Sky Oaks Field Station, where measurements support carbon-cycle research. Linear mixed-effects models and inverse-distance interpolation combine archived observations from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet with USGS elevation data. The pressure model is statistically significant but its 1.21-millibar mean absolute error exceeds the one-millibar target. The temperature model finds no significant correlation and has a 2.60°F mean absolute error. An eddy-covariance tower was also restored to collect meteorological and gas-flux data. The work was completed through a NOAA NERTO internship mentored by Ivory Small and demonstrates both the potential and limitations of reconstructing local environmental observations.