Converting txt Data Into Columns In EXCEL

I’ve moved to WordPress.  This post can now be found at Converting txt Data Into Columns In EXCEL

####################
You’ve made the decision to investigate climate data, or to verify a claim made by a blogger, or to check the graphs climate bloggers present in their posts. You want to make sure they’re not making incorrect claims or being creative with the data. So, for example, you go to the KNMI Climate Explorer Monthly observations webpage and select HADISST data. On the next page, you input -5 and 5 for latitudes and -170 and -120 for longitudes, which are the coordinates of the NINO3.4 region (5S-5N, 170W-120W) of the tropical Pacific, an ENSO index. Then, on the next page, you scroll down to the third graph “anomalies” and click on “Raw Data” above it. There, you’re presented with the webpage shown in Figure 1, with two columns of data in txt format: months and the monthly NINO3.4 SST anomalies from January 1870 to present.

http://i41.tinypic.com/x59stf.jpg
Figure 1

You copy and paste the data in TXT format into EXCEL, and you run into a stumbling block, Figure 2. Both of the columns of numbers appear in one column in EXCEL. You don’t know what to do, so, frustrated, you close the windows and forget about it.
http://i43.tinypic.com/2m4u2s5.jpg
Figure 2

Or you discover how simple converting the txt Data to Columns is in EXCEL, Figures 3 through 5. Your version of EXCEL may be different, but I believe the “Convert Text To Column Wizard” is present in other versions.
NOTE: The data often includes numbers in Scientific Notation (Example: 0.377E-02). Do not delete any part of the number. EXCEL understands Scientific Notation and will automatically convert it (Convert the example to 0.00377).
http://i42.tinypic.com/51x3px.jpg
Figure 3
##################
http://i41.tinypic.com/2dl966b.jpg
Figure 4
##################
http://i44.tinypic.com/vhqku9.jpg
Figure 5

Yup, it’s that simple.