There are many reasons that you may want to look up past weather records. You may be planning a vacation, wedding, or event and want to know the expected rainfall in a certain location during a certain month. Or you may be doing school project and need to know how the temperature has changed in your city over recent years. Or perhaps you are planning to crochet a temperature blanket based on the year of your child’s birth. No matter what your reason, there are various free weather data sources that are available online. In this article, I’ll show you how to quickly get the data that you need using the best options.
Climate Data Online Search
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/search
Climate Data Online Search is the US government’s web form access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s past weather database. While the initial interface is clean and simple, the options and process can be very confusing for the inexperienced user. You first need to select “Observation Type/Dataset.” Typically, you will want to use Daily Summaries to fetch data for each day in a date range. However, you can also choose monthly and annual summaries, normals data, and even weather RADAR. Next select a date range and tell the system how you want to identify your location. There are various options, but the most popular ones are ZIP Codes and cities.
When you click the Search button, you will be shown a map of the location you selected and get an “Add To Cart” option. Click that “Add To Cart” option and then select the data format that you want to receive. CSV is typical if you want to do further analysis in a tool such as Excel. PDF may be a better format for sharing or including a report. Complete the “checkout” process, and make sure that you enter a valid email because the status of your “order” will be sent there. Now wait a few minutes (or longer) while the system processes your order, and you will receive a link to view your data. That is a LOT of work if you just need a few records, but the many options of this site allow you access to hard-to-find data… if you can plow through the complex “ordering” process.
Pros:
- Data direct from the US government (NOAA).
- It is possible to get weather data for a range of dates in a single query.
- Data is available in multiple forms for download, including CSV.
- There are some weather data options here that are not easily available elsewhere.
- The site proports to offer data back to 1763, but it is very hard to find any data before the early 1900s.
Cons:
- Very long and confusing process just to get simple data.
- Options are not easy to understand by anyone who did not take at least one meteorology in college.
- While multiple result data formats are supported, the output appear to be targeted more to scientists and researchers. It can be hard for average people to use it.
- Local location data is available only for US locations. (Searching for “Paris, France” as a city yields the somewhat less iconic “Paris, TX,” although I’m sure that the TX namesake is a lovely vacation destination also.)
- Although powerful, this site may be best left to the professionals.
Extras:
- In addition to past weather data, you can also get weather RADAR images. Simply select one of the RADAR options in the “Observation Type/Dataset” option.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
https://www.almanac.com/weather/history
The Old Farmer’s Almanac provides past weather records for the US and Canada from 1945 until approximately yesterday. Using this site is simple although the results are also rather basic. Just enter the ZIP Code or city name in the search box and select a date from the dropdown boxes at the top or the search page. The results will be shown in a simple web view. To change the location or dates, just change the entry fields at the top of the data, and hit the Change button.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use interface.
- Shows standard weather metrics such as temperature wind, and perception.
- Conveniently shows the reporting weather station at the top of the results data.
Cons:
- No ability to find weather data for a range of dates.
- No ability to enter a specific address.
- No ability to export the result data.
- Weather data is available only at the day level (not hourly, weekly, or monthly)
- No built-in visualization or analysis options.
- Does not handle missing or bad data well. In some searches wind speed appears as 999mph, for example. Users must exercise caution when analyzing the result data.
Extras:
- For $5.99 (at the time of this writing), there is a page that will show you a graphical dashboard of historical conditions at a given location during a given time period. (For a free alternative, see Visual Crossing below.)
Weather Underground
https://www.wunderground.com/history
Weather Underground offers past weather records for many locations worldwide from 1930 until the present day. While this site is a bit harder to use than some others, it provides a nice-looking graphical data display that is shown in hourly increments. In addition, you can get weather summaries weekly or monthly. While not as powerful as being able to set an actual date range, the charts give you a visualization of the weather patterns over a given week or month. In addition, you can change the reporting station via a dropdown menu option. However, the use of this can be rather confusing since most stations shown as potential options apparently do not report historical data. So, when you select one of these non-reporting stations, your request will be invisibly snapped back to a major airport or other station.
To get historical weather records, first enter your location in the box and select the date of interest. The matching weather records will be shown on a page with graphs at the top and mode detailed records below. You can modify the selected date at any time by changing the dropdowns at the top of the page. In order to change the location, however, you must return to the starting page and enter a new one. In addition, there is a selector above the date selector that allows you to change the view to a weekly or monthly overview.
Pros:
- Shows summary graphs as well as more granular data in a grid format.
- For daily results, the results grid shows data by the hour (increment size varies, but approximately hourly).
- Provides astronomy data such as actual day length and mon phases.
Cons:
- There is no ability to enter a custom date range.
- There is no ability to export the weather results.
- Interface is cluttered with ads and can be confusing and slow.
- Occasionally shows “no data is available” and other unexpected errors. When this happens, you can typically refresh the page to get better results.
AccuWeather
If you are searching for relatively recent weather history, AccuWeather provides an easy-to-use interface for fetching data for the previous year. The past weather option is a bit hidden if you don’t know where to look. To find it, first enter your location into search box on their main page. This will bring up the current forecast data. Next click on the “Month” option immediately above the forecast details. This will show you a calendar view of the current month. Now you can use the date dropdown options above the calendar to select the any month in the current year or previous year. The default calendar view only shows temperature, but if you click on the list view icon to the right of the date, the data will appear as a list and also show precipitation information. Unfortunately, if you need historical data earlier than the previous year, you are out of luck.
Pros:
- Weather data is presented in a simple calendar view.
- Clean and easy-to-use interface.
- Weather records are shown for an entire month at a time.
Cons:
- Historical weather earlier than the previous year is not available.
- Only temperature and precipitation data is given.
- There is no ability to enter a custom date range.
- There is no ability to export the weather results.
Extras:
- You can see weather averages (based on historical weather history) for the remainder of the current year and the next year as well. Simply use the date dropdowns to change the date into the future. The interface will show you average temperatures based on historical conditions.
Visual Crossing Weather History
https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather-data
Visual Crossing Weather offers two separate ways to get past weather records. First is the weather dashboard. The Weather History Dashboard provides a very easy for anyone to analyze historical weather data using an attractive visual display of graphs and PKI. The Weather Query Page is a more sophisticated interface that allows user to query using date ranges and multiple locations.
Weather History Dashboard
https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather/historical-weather-dashboard
This Visual Crossing Weather dashboard allows you to easily and instantly obtain past weather records for any location worldwide. Start by entering a location into the text box and selecting a date range using the dropdowns. There are shortcut buttons available for common date ranges such as month-to-date, year-to-date, last year, etc. There is also a shortcut link to avoid typing a location and “Use your location” instead. The result is a graphical dashboard showing graphs for temperature, precipitation, and wind along with PKIs (Key Performance Indicators) for various weather measures across the top. The map on the right-hand shows the location that you selected as well as the nearby weather reporting stations. If you prefer the data in grid format, click on the “Grid” option above the charts. Changing the location or date range is as simple as clicking on the header above the data.
Weather Query Page
https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather/weather-data-services
The Visual Crossing Weather query page is the most powerful way to get past weather records online. However, you will need to use a valid email to create an account. Once you create an account, however, you can request historical weather data for any date range (back to 1900) and for any global location down to the individual address level. The query wizard is a little more complex than some of the other tools, but the results are well worth it. You first enter your location in natural form (an address, a city name, a ZIP Code, etc.) and then enter the date range that you want to query. You can choose to see the records at the daily or the hourly level. When you run the query, you will initially be shown a calendar view. You can then switch to a grid view or download the data as a CSV file. There is also a button that will generate a query URL that can be imported directly into Excel, Google Sheets, or any other analysis tool.
In addition, there are dozens of other options that go well beyond other weather sites. You can enter multiple locations and compare them side-by-side on the calendar view. You can get historical summary reports that show the weather records aggregated by week, month, or year. You can even control which specific weather station(s) are polled to create the result data and how many weather stations should be considered. Visual Crossing Weather is a service that is designed to supply data for professionals and data scientists but it easy enough for everyone to use as well.
Pros:
- Weather records available for any range of dates.
- Detailed weather results available down to the individual address level.
- Worldwide coverage.
- Easy-to-understand graphical dashboard to display weather data.
- Data available hourly, daily, and in summaries by week, month and year.
- Download data as a CSV file.
- “Query URL” allows results to be directly loaded in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI, etc.
- Provides many more weather measures that other services including heat index, wind chill, cloud cover, snow, and more.
Cons:
- Need to sign up with an email to get the best options.
- User interface is more complex than some other services. (Videos are available to help first-time users do common tasks.)
Extras:
- Free graphical dashboards available to answer several common weather questions including using historical weather patterns to plan events and vacations (https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather/weather-event-planner) and climate change analysis for any location (https://www.visualcrossing.com/weather/whats-my-climate-change).
- Automatable by an API if you are coder or scripter and want to use weather data in your application.
