How to Find Historical Weather Records
Thanks to the Internet, non-meteorologists now have direct access to reliable historical weather records. Websites such as Weather Underground and the Utah State University Climate Center offer access to a wide range of historical weather data free of charge. Although the weather stations supplying the data often overlap, the data included and how they're organized typically vary from site to site. For example, the Utah State University Climate Center offers a broad array of daily weather data in a table spanning a time period of your choice, while Weatherbase only offers access to averages and extremes for the cumulative years on record . Both of those websites offer data only in lists, while Plymouth State Weather Center displays the data in plotted maps.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Utah State University Climate Center
-
1
Log on to the Utah State University Climate Center website.
-
2
Click "Climate DataSets" in the right-hand column of the homepage.
-
-
3
Select a state from the pull-down menu on the left.
-
4
Type the name of the desired city in the indicated field on the left of the page, above the "State" pull-down menu.
-
5
Click "Find" to show your selected city.
-
6
Click on the weather station you wish to view data from on the map. Weather stations are marked by purple and yellow dots. Purple dots indicate active stations and yellow dots indicate inactive stations. See the information for the station you selected on the right of the map under the heading "Station Information."
-
7
Choose the time period encompassing the historical weather record you wish to view from the "Period of Record Requested" pull-down menus on the right of the map. The available period will differ depending of the specific station chosen.
-
8
Choose the specific data you wish to view by checking the radio boxes under the "Climate Data Fields:" heading to the right of the map. For example, you may choose maximum temperature, snowfall or heating degree-days (HDD).
-
9
Click "submit" beneath the "Climate Data Fields:" section. This takes you to a page that lists your request parameters. To the right of the parameters is the heading "Download Options."
-
10
Click "Table" under the "Download Options" heading to view the requested data. Click "CSV File" instead if you'd rather download the data into a compatible spreadsheet on your computer.
Weather Underground
-
11
Log on to Weather Underground.
-
12
Click "History Data" in the header menu on the home page, under the "Local Weather" heading. This takes you to the Weather History page.
-
13
Input your desired location by typing either the city and state, ZIP code or airport code in the indicated field.
-
14
Choose the date for the data you wish to view from the indicated pull-down menus. Weather Underground provides access to data going back to Jan. 1, 1945.
-
15
Click "Submit" to view the requested data.
Weatherbase
-
16
Log on to Weatherbase.
-
17
Choose a region from the list below the world map or type the desired city, state and country or ZIP code in the indicated field below the regions list and click "Search."
-
18
Click your desired country in the list on the next page if you chose one of the options in the region list and then continue on, selecting state and city to view averages and records for the years on record. Most locations have at least 30 years.
-
1
