Parallel weather observations are crucial for combining historical weather observations with modern records, so we can accurately see what our climate was like back in time. Most datasets go for two or three years, but in Adelaide, Australia, Government Astronomer and Meteorologist Charles Todd and his team took measurements in two thermometer stands for almostContinue reading “Paper summary: the world’s longest known series of parallel temperature data: Adelaide, 1887–1947”
Category Archives: Historical climatology
Paper summary: historical extreme rainfall events in southeastern Australia
Most instrumental weather data that we use to study rainfall in Australia only extend back to 1900, which makes it hard to capture the full range of our highly variable climate. In a new study we have used historical rainfall observations in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney to add an extra 60 years of information toContinue reading “Paper summary: historical extreme rainfall events in southeastern Australia”
The thing about wind
I’ve written before about my frustration/hatred of wind in daily life, but today I wanted to raise another complaint: using wind data in past climate research. Wind direction is easy and cheap to monitor. All you really need is a damp finger and a decent sense of which way is north. The strength of windContinue reading “The thing about wind”
How’s about that weather then? 26 and 28 March 1844
People love talking about the weather. Whether it’s on Twitter in 2017, or in letters to the Editor in 1841, we are never short of a meteorological-based conversation starter, particularly in Australia. The aim of these posts is to share some of the events that piqued people’s interest back in the day. Not always theContinue reading “How’s about that weather then? 26 and 28 March 1844”
Teleco-what now?
This post contains a lot of links to scientific articles that may be paywalled, or just as bad, really technical. Just let me know if you need a copy of any of them, or if they don’t make sense. Ah, teleconnection. What a word. Much like ‘madrugada‘ does not have a translation into English, orContinue reading “Teleco-what now?”
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