Weather: A Research Guide

Researchers and students search for weather information for a variety of reasons including creating travel plans and writing research reports. Weather affects farming, transportation, and business in many different ways since, at any given time, the weather can change. This guide introduces researchers to some of the basic informational sources on the topic. The resources below will help researchers get started if they are looking for forecasts for the next few days or even past weather conditions. The terms and phrases listed in the subject headings below can be used to search for more materials in the library's catalog and research databases. If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian.

Intellicast.com
www.intellicast.com
Includes recent historical data by locality.

Weather Channel
www.weather.com/homepage.html
Includes 10-day weather forecasts and how weather impacts travel, lawn and garden, health, health, and recreation.

Weather Underground
www.wunderground.com
Provides daily weather forecast and includes historical data by locality back to the 1920s in some cases, such as Boston .

Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather by Stephen Henry Schneider. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0195094859.
With more than 300 entries covering topics from acid rain to zonal circulation though text and more than 400 illustrations.

The Encyclopedia of Climatology edited by John E. Oliver and Rhodes Whitmore Fairbridge. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987. ISBN: 0879330090.
Supplies data on climates in major continental areas. Explains causes of climatic processes and changes in more than 200 articles.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Weather by Paul Stein. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. ISBN: 0028654730.
Includes 150 entries covering weather in all its manifestations, terms, concepts, and particular phenomena in a single volume. Introductory work for students and general researchers.

The Weather Almanac: A Reference Guide to Weather, Climate, and Air Quality in the United States and Its Key Cities, Comprising Statistics, Principles, and Terminology. Detroit : Gale Research, 2003. ISBN: 0787675156.
Includes in-depth weather records for 108 major U.S. cities and a climatic overview of the country, including 33 U.S. weather atlas maps.

Weather America by Alfred N. Garwood. Milpitas, CA : Toucan Valley, 1996. ISBN: 188492560X.
Includes detailed climatological data for over 4,000 places and rankings.

Weather America: A Thirty-Year Summary of Statistical Weather Data and Rankings, 2nd ed. by David Garoogian. Lakeville, CT : Grey House, 2001. ISBN: 1891482297.
Covers weather rankings, major storm events, and state chapters. Appendices include climate centers, periods of record, map of NEXRAD Doppler radar stations, and an explanation of data.

National Climatic Data Center
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
Produces numerous climate publications and responds to data requests from all over the world. NCDC supports a three tier national climate services support program—the partners include: NCDC, Regional Climate Centers, and State Climatologists. Web site includes many free data files.

National Weather Association (NWA)
www.nwas.org
Promotes professionalism and develops solutions to problems faced by meteorologists and people working in daily weather forecasting activities.

National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
www.nws.noaa.gov
Issues weather warnings, observations, forecasts, hydrological information reported from 13 forecast centers, and satellite maps.