Global Historical Climatology Network Monthly Climate Data

The Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) dataset provides monthly temperature, precipitation, sea-level pressure, and station-pressure data from thousands of meteorological stations worldwide. Compiled from national, regional, and global collections, it contains records from approximately 6000 temperature stations, 7500 precipitation stations, and 1800 stations for each pressure type. This dataset serves as a foundational baseline for monitoring climate and detecting long-term change.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term temperature trends using monthly station temperature records.
• Studying historical precipitation patterns and anomalies across global stations.
• Investigating changes in sea-level and station pressure for climate model validation.
• Identifying spatial data coverage gaps in regions like the Amazon rainforest or Sahara Desert.

Strengths

• Contains long-term records, with 40% of stations having more than 50 years of data.
• Compiled from pre-existing national, regional, and global collections, indicating a synthesis of authoritative sources.
• Good spatial coverage over most of the globe, particularly for the United States and Europe.

Limitations

• Data gaps exist over specific regions including the Amazon rainforest, the Sahara Desert, Greenland, and Antarctica.
• Sources conflict on the last update date, with one platform listing 2026-03-13 and another listing 1990-12-31, casting doubt on data freshness.

Provenance

Source

Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) project, compiled from pre-existing national, regional, and global collections.

Collection Method

Compiled from pre-existing meteorological station data collections.

Time Range

1753-1990

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:13:26.269502

Geography

Global, with thousands of stations worldwide. Coverage is good over most of the globe, with noted gaps in the Amazon, Sahara, Greenland, and Antarctica.