Abstract: Collecting rods are pre-greased for use with a rotorod sampler. Multiple collecting rods are molded in one piece with a header to form a group. The collecting rods are attached to the header by thin gates so that they can be easily broken off for use. Multiple groups are combined into an assembly that is adhered to a container lid and dipped into a pre-greasing suspension to pre-grease the collecting rods. The container lid is attached to the rest of the container to enclose the pre-greased collecting rods for shipment.

Abstract: The spatial synoptic classification (SSC) is modified by taking seed days within sliding periods so that seed days are selected from the warmest and coldest periods of the year and two intermediate periods. Artificial seed days are produced to represent typical weather patterns on other days of the year. From the selected seed days and the artificial seed days, a classification technique is developed to categorize a weather type for any day. Once the seed days are selected for a weather station, those seed days can be used to select seed days for nearby weather stations.