import numpy

!wget ftp://ftp.cdc.noaa.gov/Datasets/ncep.reanalysis.dailyavgs/surface/air.sig995.2012.nc

from scipy.io import netcdf
f = netcdf.netcdf_file('air.sig995.2012.nc', 'r')

f.dimensions

f.variables

air = f.variables['air']

air.scale_factor

air.add_offset

airData = air[:]
airDataCels = ((airData*air.scale_factor)+air.add_offset)-273.15

lat = f.variables['lat'][:]
lon = f.variables['lon'][:]


lons, lats = numpy.meshgrid(lon,lat)

%pylab inline
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap

m = Basemap(llcrnrlon=0,llcrnrlat=40,urcrnrlon=190,urcrnrlat=85,projection='mill', resolution='l')
x, y = m(lons, lats)

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
dayNumber = 120
m.drawcoastlines(linewidth=1)
m.drawcountries(linewidth=0.5)
m.drawmapboundary
cs = m.contourf(x,y,airDataCels[dayNumber,:,:],20)
colorbar(orientation='horizontal')