Combine multiple NetCDF files into timeseries multidimensional array python

Question

I am using data from multiple netcdf files (in a folder on my computer). Each file holds data for the entire USA, for a time period of 5 years. Locations are referenced based on

Answer 1

In parallel to the answer of N1B4, you can also concatenate 4 files along their time dimension using CDO from the command line

cdo mergetime precip1.nc precip2.nc precip3.nc precip4.nc merged_file.nc 

or with wildcards

cdo mergetime precip?.nc merged_file.nc 

and then proceed to read it in as per that answer.

You can add another step from the command line to extract the location of choice by using

cdo remapnn,lon=X/lat=Y merged_file.nc my_location.nc

this picks out the gridcell nearest to your specified lon/lat (X,Y) coordinate, or you can use bilinear interpolation if you prefer:

cdo remapbil,lon=X/lat=Y merged_file.nc my_location.nc