23 March 2022

How to add weather to your family history

Today, 23 March is World Meteorological Day as proclaimed by the World Meteorological Organization. While meteorology, the science of weather and the atmosphere, may not feature in your family history it could. There are 3,165 entries in Ancestry’s Canada Voters Lists, 1935-1980 collection with occupation meteo*.

More likely of interest is the weather on a special day, birthday, graduation, marriage or a memorable extreme weather event, like the 1998 Ice Storm, or one that changed the course of someone’s life.

Historical weather data for Canada may be found starting at https://climate.weather.gc.ca/historical_data/search_historic_data_e.html

For the UK check the Daily Weather Report /Daily Weather Summary (METDLA/6/1/1) back to 1860 along with other resources at the Complete Archive from the Digital Library and Archives of the British Meteorological Office.