The Historical Weather Database is a Website maintained by the Washington Post. It contains weather and climate information for cities in every US state and many foreign countries. The Website states that the information has been provided by the National Weather Service ‐ San Francisco, the International Station Meteorological Climate Summary, Version 4.0, the Global Historical Climatology Network, versions 1 and b2, and the National Climatic Data Center TD 9641, Clim 81, 1961‐1990.
The Website homepage is very simple and plain, consisting of a summary of the Historical Weather Database coverage and a box to enter searches of the database by city, state, or country. There is advertising on the page; but it is limited and not intrusive. The weather database includes summaries of the following: average temperature, average high and average low temperature, record high and record low temperature, average precipitation, snowfall, wind speed, morning and afternoon relative humidity, number of days below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, percent of days with sunshine, and number of clear, partly cloudy and cloudy days. There is a total of 15 different climate summaries, but not all cities have all the summaries.
Searching is possible by entering a city name, a state in the USA, or a country other than the USA. Any search of the database will produce a page called “Historical weather data search results.” The page contains a list of cities in that state or country with their annual average temperature, average high temperature, and average low temperature. Each city name is a link to a city page with more detailed climate summaries. When searching by city name, the search results page is always displayed; and the search does not immediately bring up the city page, even if the search result is only one city.
On the city page, the data is displayed neatly in spreadsheet format, with each variable broken out by month with yearly average or total and given in US and metric measurements. Each data variable includes the source of the information and the number of years charted. Average temperature, average high temperature, and average low temperature are always the first variables on the page. The page is very readable, with just enough color to make it attractive but not distract from the information.
There is no listing available of what countries are covered by the Historical Weather Database. A sample set of country searches produced a fairly wide coverage, with at least one city in each country searched.
The search engine is fairly simple but has some flaws. You can search by city, US state, or country. Incorrect spellings will produce no results. You cannot search by continent and get all the countries that have weather data. If you search for New York, New York you will get all the cities in New York state. The search engine will accept simple boolean commands (Austin and Texas, Tucson or Houston). Searching using the “search again” box from the search results page does not always work. If you make repeated searches by clicking the browser back button to return to the search results or initial page and entering another search, the search engine may start giving false “no results” screens. Reloading the home page and reentering the search will produce correct results.
The Historical Weather Database is a good Web source of climate data. It contains data that would be available in a good almanac, but is not readily available on the Web. It is a very straightforward and easy‐to‐use resource. It would be especially useful for people contemplating a move to or an extended stay in an unfamiliar place and needing climate data for that area.
