VillanovaAI/Italian_Forecast_Climate_Indicators_Dataset

Italian Forecast Climate Indicators Dataset

Dataset Description

This dataset contains a filtered and processed selection of monthly climate indicators retrieved from the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC):

The released version of the dataset has been simplified for downstream use:

• the original YEAR and MONTH fields were merged into a single date column

• the dataset fields are now date, CDD, and HDD

• Geographical Coverage: Italy

• Temporal Coverage: 1978-01-01 to 2024-07-01

• Frequency: Monthly

• Data Type: Tabular time-series

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Dataset Structure

The dataset is distributed as an Excel file and can be easily exported to CSV or parquet.

Columns

• date: Monthly timestamp in YYYY-MM-DD format, using the first day of each month
• CDD: Cooling Degree Days
• HDD: Heating Degree Days

Notes on Indicators

• Cooling Degree Days (CDD) measure how much and for how long temperature is above a base threshold.
• Heating Degree Days (HDD) measure how much and for how long temperature is below a base threshold.

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Preprocessing

The dataset was transformed as follows:

1. Removed the original split temporal representation (YEAR, MONTH)
2. Created a single monthly datetime field named date
3. Kept the climate indicators CDD and HDD

This makes the dataset easier to load in machine learning and forecasting pipelines.

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Intended Use

This dataset is suitable for:

• climate-aware agricultural modeling
• seasonal and long-range forecasting
• energy demand estimation
• time-series benchmarking
• climate trend analysis

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Limitations

• Monthly aggregation does not capture day-level variability
• The dataset only contains two derived climate indicators (CDD and HDD)

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