About

Where to Go for Great Weather

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About This Project

Where to Go for Great Weather is an interactive vacation planning tool that helps you find the best destinations based on weather conditions worldwide. Whether you're seeking sunshine, mild temperatures, or dry seasons, this application visualizes global weather patterns to inform your travel decisions.

Data Sources

ERA5 Reanalysis

The temperature and precipitation data in this application comes from ERA5, the fifth generation ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) reanalysis for global climate and weather.

Variables included:

  • Temperature (tmin/tmax): Monthly minimum and maximum temperatures in °C (derived from 2m temperature)
  • Precipitation (prec): Monthly total precipitation in mm

Time Period: 2020-2024 (5 years monthly averages)

Resolution: 0.25 degrees (~28 km)

License: CC-BY 4.0 (free for commercial use with attribution)

Citation: Hersbach et al. (2020): ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS). DOI: 10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Attribution: "Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information"

Website: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/

CRU Sunshine Hours

Sunshine hour data is derived from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series dataset v4.09, which provides high-resolution gridded climate data.

Resolution: 10 arc-minutes (~18 km)

License: Open Government Licence v3.0 (free for commercial use with attribution)

Citation: Harris, I., Osborn, T.J., Jones, P. et al. Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset. Sci Data 7, 109 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0453-3

Attribution: "Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia) and NCAS"

Website: https://crudata.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/

Features

  • Interactive World Map: Explore weather conditions across the globe
  • Monthly Data: View climate data for any month of the year
  • Multiple Variables: Switch between temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours
  • Visual Color Schemes: Intuitive color gradients for easy interpretation
  • Detailed Information: Click anywhere on the map for specific location data

How to Use

  1. Select a month from the dropdown in the top-left corner
  2. Choose a weather variable from the layer selector on the left
  3. Explore the map by panning and zooming
  4. Click on any location to see detailed weather information
  5. Use the preferences panel to filter destinations based on your ideal conditions

Technology

This application is built with:

  • Backend: Python Flask
  • Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
  • Mapping: Leaflet.js
  • Data Processing: Rasterio, NumPy, Pandas

License & Terms

All climate data is freely available for commercial use under the following terms:

  • ERA5: CC-BY 4.0 license - requires attribution to Copernicus Climate Change Service
  • CRU: Open Government Licence v3.0 - requires attribution to CRU (University of East Anglia) and NCAS

This application is provided for informational and educational purposes. Weather data should be verified with current forecasts before making travel decisions.

Life's too short for bad weather ☀️