FAQ
How is this information gathered?
Very detailed weather records are kept for most major U.S. towns and cities by the National Weather Service. Record highs, high minimum temperatures, lows, low maximum temperatures, precipitation and snowfall records are kept for each day. Some reporting stations possess daily weather records dating back to the 1980s, while most major cities have data going back to the late 1800s. When a weather record is tied or broken, the U.S. National Weather Service issues a public information statement detailing this information. In order to figure out just how many records were broken, the data from the National Weather Service was put into a database and categorized as the type of record tied or broken.
How accurate is this information?
Every effort has been made to ensure the data's accuracy. It's possible that a few records have been duplicated, categorized incorrectly or were not received.
Why are other countries not included?
Detailed weather records from other parts of the world either do not exist or are very expensive to obtain. It's our goal to eventually obtain this information and include it in our web site.
Are other countries breaking records like in the U.S?
According to the World Meteorological Organization, January and April of 2007 will rank as the warmest such months ever for global land surface temperatures. In 2007, this was South Asia’s worst monsoon flooding in at least 60 years in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Severe flooding was seen recently across southern China, England and Wales, which saw the wettest May and June ever also leading to extensive flooding in these regions. Germany experienced the driest April and the wettest May in recorded history. Extreme heat plagued southeastern Europe in May, June and July of 2007. Severe drought has also led to major wildfires in Greece.
Why are some towns not included that we know have broken records?
All information is obtained from the National Weather Service. Many smaller towns do not have historical records. Most information comes from major cities, automatic weather reporting stations, airports and towns with larger populations.
Why do records only go back to January 1, 2007?
It is our intention to display records prior to January 1, 2007. The web site is a continuous work in progress. Just keeping up with the current information is a job in itself.
Were more records broken prior to January 1, 2007?
It's very possible that more total records fell prior to January 1, 2007. As times moves on, it becomes more difficult to break records.
Why are there so many warm records?
Warm weather records have dominated in 2007, over two-to-one versus cold records. This is another piece of information that does support global warming. In addition to the burning of fossil fuels, more concrete and asphalt in our cities and surrounding regions also increases local temperatures as these hard substances absorb more heat than grasslands and other vegetated surfaces. The warming of the cities is called the "urban heat island effect" and this phenomenon is certainly becoming more widespread. How much our planet is warming due to human activities versus long-term climatological cycles is up for debate. But one thing’s for sure, Mankind is certainly making things worse, not better.
