Monthly climatic data from the Eads Bridge, from 1893 to the 1960’s. It’s a comma separated file (.csv) that can be imported into pretty much any spreadsheet program.
The last three columns are mean (MMNT), minimum (MNMT), and maximum (MXMT) monthly temperature data, which are good candidates for analysis by pre-calculus students who are studying sinusoidal functions. For an extra challenge, students can also try analyzing the total monthly precipitation patterns (TPCP). The precipitation pattern is not nearly as nice a sinusoidal function as the temperature.
Students should try to deconstruct the curve into component functions to see the annual cycles and any longer term patterns. This type of work would also be a precursor the the mathematics of Fourier analysis.
This data comes from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) website.
