Documentation

Data Source Table

EntoTools uses the modified Growing Degree Day (mGDD) method, also known as the "modified sine" or "simple average" method with an upper threshold cap.

Formula

Parameters

• Base Temperature (default 50°F): The lower developmental threshold. TMIN values below this are raised to this value before averaging (matching CLIMOD's modified method), and days where the resulting average is below this contribute 0 GDD.
• Max Temperature Cap (default 86°F): The upper developmental threshold. TMAX values above this are capped at this value before averaging, because insect development typically plateaus or ceases above certain temperatures.
• Accumulation Start Date: The month and day (e.g., Jan 1) when cumulative GDD resets and begins accumulating for the season.

Accumulation Logic

• Cumulative GDD resets to 0 at the start of each calendar year.
• Daily GDD only accumulates on or after the configured accumulation start date.
• Before the accumulation start date, cumulative GDD remains 0.

Occasionally, a weather station may fail to report temperature data for one or more consecutive days. When this happens, the GDD calculation uses linear interpolation to fill the gap:

• Interpolated values are tagged as Calculated in the data tables and charts.
• If no known day exists on either side of the gap (e.g., missing data at the very start or end of the date range), the gap is left unfilled and those days contribute 0 GDD.
• This ensures the cumulative GDD total remains as accurate as possible even with multi-day data gaps.

When a date range extends to or near the present day, the system appends a 16-day weather forecast to project future temperature and GDD accumulation.

Method

• Source: Forecasts are provided by the Open-Meteo Forecast API, which aggregates output from numerical weather prediction models (ECMWF, GFS, and others).
• Data: Daily high/low temperatures (TMAX/TMIN) and precipitation are fetched in US customary units (°F, inches).
• Coverage: Global — the same forecast endpoint is used regardless of whether the primary data provider is NCEI or Open-Meteo.
• Horizon: Up to 16 days from the current date. Forecast days that overlap with already-available actual data are excluded.

Forecast values are tagged as Forecast in tables and displayed with dashed lines on charts.

The Degree Day Calculator is the primary tool for exploring weather data and GDD trends over custom date ranges.

How to Use

1. Select a location using city/state/country or latitude/longitude coordinates (decimal degrees or DMS).
2. Add date ranges — you can compare multiple time periods side-by-side. Each range appears as a separate series on the charts.
3. Configure GDD parameters: base temperature, max temperature cap, and accumulation start date (month and day).
4. Click Search — data is fetched from the nearest NOAA station and displayed.

Available Charts & Data

• Temperature Chart: Daily high/low temperatures with actual data as solid lines and forecast as dashed lines.
• GDD Chart: Cumulative and daily GDD values. Toggle forecast visibility on/off.
• Precipitation Chart: Daily and cumulative precipitation.
• Data Tables: Detailed breakdowns for temperature, GDD, and precipitation in tabular format.

Saving Searches

Search results can be saved to your browser's local storage for quick access later. Saved searches appear in the sidebar and can be loaded or deleted.

The GDD Lookup provides a quick way to get the cumulative GDD value for a specific location and target date.

How to Use

1. Select a location using city/state/country or lat/lon (decimal degrees or DMS).
2. Set the target date — defaults to today.
3. Configure GDD parameters (base temp, max cap, accumulation start).
4. Click Look Up — the system fetches data from the accumulation start date to the target date and computes cumulative GDD.

Results

The result card shows cumulative GDD, daily GDD for the target date, average temperature, station info, and a full day-by-day breakdown table.

The Label Data tool generates printable specimen labels enriched with weather data (temperature, GDD, precipitation, humidity, elevation, and sunset time) for entomological collections.

How to Use

1. Enter a location using city/state/country or lat/lon (decimal degrees or DMS format, e.g. 35° 27' 23" N).
2. Fill in collection details: site name, date (single or range), time, collector, specimen ID, identification, and determiner.
3. Configure GDD parameters: base temperature and accumulation start date.
4. Click Generate — the system fetches weather data and computes GDD, precipitation, humidity, elevation, and sunset for the collection date(s).
5. Add to label sheet — each entry is accumulated into a multi-label print sheet for batch printing.

Label Contents

• Location (city, state, country) with coordinates and elevation
• Date, sunset time, and collection time
• Temperature (high/low/average), cumulative GDD, 30-day precipitation
• Relative humidity at collection time (or daily average)
• Specimen details: ID, identification, determiner, number of specimens

Data Persistence

Label sheet data is stored in your browser's local storage. It persists between sessions but will be lost if you clear your browser cache.

The Collection Database lets you browse, search, and manage all saved specimen collection records.

Features

• Browse & Sort: View all records sorted by date, location, or other fields.
• Search: Filter records by keyword across all fields.
• Export: Download all records as a CSV file for backup or import into other systems.
• Import: Upload a CSV file to restore or add records to the database.

Provider Routing

The system determines which data provider to use based on the country of the search location:

• United States: NOAA NCEI (station-based). If NCEI fails or returns no stations, the system falls back to Open-Meteo grid-point data.
• All other countries: Open-Meteo historical archive (grid-point data).

When a fallback occurs, a warning banner is displayed on the page indicating that alternative data was used.

Station Selection (US / NCEI)

For US locations, the system automatically finds the best nearby NOAA weather station:

1. Bounding Box Filter: Stations within approximately 140 miles (2° latitude) of the search location are pre-filtered.
2. Distance Ranking: Remaining stations are ranked by haversine distance.
3. Station Type Priority: Stations with IDs starting with USW (airports), USC (cooperative), or USR (regional) are preferred, as they are more likely to report temperature data.
4. Data Verification: The top candidates are checked against NCEI for recent data (last 30 days). The closest station with actual data is selected.

The selected station's name, ID, and distance from your search location are displayed in the results.

Grid-Point Data (Non-US / Fallback)

For non-US locations (or when NCEI fails), Open-Meteo provides data for the exact grid point nearest to the search coordinates. No station selection is performed; instead, the latitude and longitude are used directly.

The Status Page provides a real-time overview of the health and availability of all services that EntoTools depends on.

Services Monitored

• EntoTools API: The internal API that powers all backend operations (geocoding, data fetching, feedback submission).
• NOAA NCEI: The primary US weather data provider for temperature and precipitation.
• Open-Meteo: The global weather data and forecast provider.
• Nominatim / OpenStreetMap: The geocoding service used to resolve location names to coordinates.
• GitHub API: Used by the feedback system to create issue reports.

How It Works

• On page load, a health check request is sent to each service through the EntoTools API proxy.
• Each service is tested with a lightweight request and a timeout (8–10 seconds).
• The page displays the operational status (Operational, Degraded, or Down) and response latency for each service.
• An overall status banner summarizes the health of all services at a glance.
• You can manually re-check all services using the Refresh button.

EntoTools includes a built-in feedback widget available on every page. You can use it to report bugs, suggest features, or send general feedback directly to the development team.

How to Submit Feedback

1. Click the feedback button — look for the green speech-bubble icon in the bottom-right corner of any page.
2. Select a type: Bug Report, Feature Request, or General Feedback.
3. Fill in the details: Provide a title and description. An optional email field is available if you'd like a follow-up.
4. Submit — your feedback is sent to the development team and a GitHub issue is automatically created.

Bug Reports

• When submitting a bug report, the widget automatically captures and attaches sanitized browser console logs to help diagnose the issue.
• All personally identifiable information (emails, IP addresses, coordinates, API keys) is stripped from the logs before submission.
• The current page URL is also included for context.

After Submission

• A confirmation message is displayed with a direct link to the created GitHub issue, so you can track its progress.
• All feedback is tracked publicly on the EntoTools GitHub Issues page.

• Data Availability: NOAA NCEI data may have a 1–3 day lag from the current date. The most recent days might not have data yet. This only affects requests for US locations.
• Station Coverage: Rural areas may have fewer nearby stations, resulting in data from stations farther away. Always check the reported distance, as it is listed in the datasets provided. This only applies to US/NCEI locations.
• Open-Meteo Resolution: Open-Meteo provides gridded reanalysis data, not station-based observations. Its spatial resolution is approximately 9–25 km depending on the model. For non-US locations, this is the only available data source.
• Forecast Accuracy: The 16-day forecast is sourced from Open-Meteo's numerical weather prediction models. Accuracy is generally high for the first 7 days and decreases beyond that.
• Coordinate Input: All pages accept coordinates in decimal degrees (e.g., 35.4564) or DMS format (e.g., 35° 27' 23" N). Locations can also be entered as city/state/country for geocoding via Nominatim.
• Local Storage: Saved searches, label sheets, and the collection database are stored in your browser. They do not sync across devices and can be lost if you clear browser data. We recommend either printing your data and charts, saving the CSV files, and exporting the database when leaving the page. You can re-import the Database CSV file when you return.
• NCEI Rate Limits: The NCEI API may occasionally return 503 errors during high-traffic periods. The system automatically retries up to 3 times with exponential backoff. This only affects requests for US locations.