The IEM attempts to produce value added datasets that fill in some frustrating gaps found with some government datasets. The National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) [formally NCDC] produces a lot of datasets including statewide averages of temperature and precipitation. Unfortunately, this dataset is only provided at a monthly interval and there is a week or so delay with the monthly release. So the IEM attempts to fill this gap by providing statewide and climate district daily estimates in near real time. NCEI just released the June data and the featured chart compares their Iowa statewide precipitation average against what the IEM computes. So the IEM is generally in the +/- 10% ballpark for this particular month and for Iowa, but other states and months are not as 'good' as this one. So there is always room for improvements and every day features attempts to rectify differences and squash software workflow bugs! Showing good correlation to official NCEI monthly numbers hopefully gives some IEM end-user confidence that there is some value in the near real times being provided on this website!

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