# Graphing the temperature **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321 "2010-11-11T16:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/1 "2010-11-11T16:35:42Z")
My ice warning light came on in the car yesterday, as it does whenever the temperature is 37ºF or less. It occurred to me that very soon the light will come on every time I drive. That got me to thinking… Is there a website that graphically tracks temperature data for specified locations? For example, can I put in Bellingham, WA and see a graph of temperatures for the month of January 2008? Or Los Angeles for August 2010? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/2 "2010-11-11T16:42:32Z")
Weather Underground will do this. Go to [wunderground.com](http://www.wunderground.com), click “History Data” under “Local Weather,” give it your location, and then choose the time period. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/3 "2010-11-11T16:46:16Z")
Check out [weather underground](http://www.wunderground.com), They list local weather stations and have historical data. [Here is the October data](http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KNMLASCR16&graphspan=month&month=10&day=8&year=2010) for a station near me. The graphs are a little small but the data is in tabular form down the page. I guess you could copy and graph as you need to. Damn you, **KneadToKnow** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/4 "2010-11-11T16:46:21Z")
Thanks, **KneadToKnow**. I see where I can get a daily graph. Is there a monthly one available? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/5 "2010-11-11T16:50:59Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > They list local weather stations and have historical data. [Here is the October data](http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KNMLASCR16&graphspan=month&month=10&day=8&year=2010) for a station near me. How did you get there? I can only find the history for a given day. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/6 "2010-11-11T16:58:40Z")
Wunderground has a number of really nice capabilities. Plug your zip into wundermap, zoom in until you spot your house and watch the variable opacity radar images to determine within a minute when it’ll start raining. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/7 "2010-11-11T17:00:02Z")
If it’s here, it’s raining! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/8 "2010-11-11T17:40:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > How did you get there? I can only find the history for a given day. I don’t know where you looking, so let me try this from the top. From the Wunderground main page, enter your zip code. Once you get the current weather page, scroll down until you see “Weather Stations” and select a station near you. You should now have a page that says “History for xxx” where xxx is the name of the station you picked. Look just below the date and just above where the data starts. There is a line that says Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly. I love that Wunderground. Someone 1/2 a mile from my house has a weather station that they link to Wunderground. Other than buying my own equipment, you can’t get much more local than that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/9 "2010-11-11T17:49:10Z")
**Tastes of Chocolate** : That’s exactly what I was looking for. Thanks. A home weather station would be fun. You could start [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=450296). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/10 "2010-11-11T18:50:40Z")
home stations to be accurate need to be sited correctly. depends on the instrument as to where it should be, a rain gauge might be OK about 20 feet from your house, a wind gauge would have to be higher or a few dozen feet away. trees and other obstructions also affect measurements. website reporting home weather stations are best if you look at a few surrounding ones. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/11 "2010-11-11T19:13:30Z")
Too many trees here for an anemometer. Maybe I’ll build a weather station in a few years, just for the hobby. There’s a reporting weather station fewer than four miles from my house. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphing-the-temperature/560321/12 "2010-11-12T14:23:40Z")
NOAA (the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric, um, Administration, I think) has weather data available for download in a bewildering variety of formats, some of which are free and some aren’t. Probably only worth exploring if you’re going to need data regularly, but it’s there.