Resources for Researching Past Weather

Sources of Information:

1. Past newspapers (copies, microfilm, microfiche, and digitized electronic copies). Can be found

in most libraries. Library of Congress (1880-1922); Monthly Weather Review (1870-1973).

2. Weather websites (free and subscription-based)

3. The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and COOP sites (NCDC). Contains data for a large number of sites.

NCDC's Historical Significant Events Imagery (1960-Present)

NCDC's State of the Climate Reports (1998-Present)

NCDC's Snow and Ice Data

NCEI Data: Integrated Surface Dataset (Global) and Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily

Climate Products

Climate at a Glance (Global, National, Regional, Statewide, Divisional County,

City)

4. GHCN-Daily Data (NCEI):

Daily Data

Index of Cities

About the GHCN-Daily Data

5. Utah Climate Center. Temperature and precipitation data for a large number of U.S. cities e.g.,

New York City's data for Central Park goes back as far as 1876.

6. cli-MATE (Midwestern Regional Climate Center) -- Can register for free access to data *** and

Northeast Regional Climate Center and Southeast Regional Climate Center and ACIS

(additional links available under "Announcements"). Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index

(MRCC)

7. xmACIS2. Allows one to look up data for a large number of U.S. cities.

SC ACIS2. Allows for mapping through gridded data feature.

8. IEMBot Project (Iowa State University)

- Current Products Page and Auto Data Plotter

- Climate Main Page and Climodat and Local Storm Reports

- NWS Text Reports

- Monthly Rankings (by state and region)

- Visualizations

Key Reports from Auto Data Plotter: Daily High/Low Temps; Monthly Records; Hourly Temp Extremes; Top 10 Hourly Records (most recent)

9. Threaded Station Extremes. Extreme temperatures for a large number of U.S. cities.

10. Environment Canada. (Past Weather Homepage) Daily data for a large number of stations in Canada with a Daily Records Lookup page. Daily Weather Summary Page.

11. The Regional Snowfall Index (RSI). List of major snowstorms. List of major Northeast snowstorms.

12. Records Look-Up (NCDC)

13. Raw Data Archive (Includes Bufkit data) from Iowa State University

14. Model Archive: GFS and NAM (Wxcaster.com)

15. Global Temperatures (Goddard Institute for Space Studies)

16. Climate Normals (NCEI): 1991-2020 30-year and 15-year Normals

Select Weather Websites:

Daily Precipitation Analysis (CPC)

Daily Temperature Analysis (CPC)

CoCoRaHS Daily Data (CoCoRahs)

Drought Information (CPC). Soil moisture data (1998-Present) is on the main CPC page.

U.S. Climate at a Glance (NCDC). Contains monthly mean temperature and precipitation data from

1900 to the present.

Albany: Seasonal Snowfall (1884-85 to Present) and Past Weather Page

Baltimore/Washington D.C. and Past Weather Page

Bangor/Caribou Past Weather Page and Past Daily Data

Boston NWS PNS Reports (2008-Present)

Bridgeport, New York City, and Newark and Past Weather Page

Buffalo/Rochester. Contains data from 1940-Present

Burlington: Seasonal Snowfall (1906-07 to Present), Climate Resources, and Past Weather Page

Concord, NH/Portland, ME and Past Weather Page

Concord, NH Snowfall (1928-29 through 2001-02)

New York City Snowfall (1869-70 to Present)

New York City Area PNS Reports (2010-present)

International Data:

Global and U.S. Data (Extremeweatherwatch.com)

Australia (Bureau of Meteorology)

Japan Meteorological Agency:

Monthly (All Japanese Sites); Monthly-Tokyo

World ClimatView (world stations)

Daily:

1. Click on "Table"

2. Click on "Select Prefecture"

3. Select the Prefecture

4. Click on the desired station

5. Click on "Maximum/Minimum temperature" to access daily high and low temperatures

Meteociel (France) -- Temperatures, Minimum Temperatures, Maximum Temperatures (click

on a reading to get the full data) ***Many international readings***

New York City (Can select countries and cities at top of page)

South Africa (South African Weather Service)

Recent climate (includes daily records and daily extremes)

Spain (AEMET)

Most recent day

Extreme values lookup