Definition
TEMPMAX consists of a set of 72 separate variables reporting maximum monthly temperatures. These variables report the average maximum temperature in kelvin scale, within a 10-kilometer circular buffer around each DHS cluster location, for the 60 individual months prior to the survey start date, the month of the survey start date, and the 11 individual months following the survey start date. Note that "average" maximum temperature here refers to averaging the maximum temperature values for the various subareas included in the buffer zone.
By adding TEMPMAX to your data cart, you are in effect adding 72 separate variables for:
the 60 individual months prior to the survey start date, denoted by the number of months prior to the survey start date (e.g., TEMPMAX_01 is the average maximum temperature in the month before the survey start date; TEMPMAX _60 is the average maximum temperature in the 60th month before the survey start date)
the month of the survey start date (TEMPMAX _00)
the 11 individual months following the month of the survey start date, denoted by the number of months following the month of the survey start date (e.g., TEMPMAX_A01 is the average maximum temperature in the month following the month of the survey start date).
The full set of monthly temperature data, from January 1980 through December 2016, is available on the IPUMS-DHS contextual variables downloads [URL omitted from DDI.] page. Users can merge the temperature data, available in csv format, with their IPUMS-DHS data extract to create average or total precipitation variables (e.g., average maximum July temperature), for the time frame suited to their research question.
For more information on IPUMS-DHS contextual variables and how they are constructed, refer to the documentation [URL omitted from DDI.] on these variables.
