Southern Africa Historical Climate Data 1874-1990

Monthly meteorological station data for southern Africa, extracted from the Global Historical Climatology Network Version 1. The subset contains precipitation, temperature, and pressure records from stations within the bounding coordinates 5W-60E and 5N-35S. This dataset was compiled by NASA from 15 source collections, with records spanning from 1874 to 1990.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term precipitation trends using monthly precipitation amount columns.
• Studying temperature anomalies and variability from monthly surface air temperature records.
• Investigating atmospheric circulation patterns via sea-level and station pressure data.
• Calibrating and validating regional climate models with historical station observations.
• Assessing climate change signals in southern Africa over a multi-decadal period.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a major global baseline climate dataset (GHCN V1) compiled from 15 authoritative source collections.
• Each contributing station has a minimum of 10 years of data, with 40% having more than 50 years of records.
• Quality control procedures included visual inspection of station time series and tests for data duplication or phase errors.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage has gaps in regions like the Amazon and Sahara, though the subset focuses on southern Africa.
• The most recent data is from 1990, limiting analysis of recent climate trends.
• Conflicting freshness metadata exists: one platform lists a 2026 administrative update, while another indicates data ends in 1990.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), compiled from 15 source datasets including NCDC World Weather Records and specialized collections for Africa.

Collection Method

Compiled from pre-existing national, regional, and global meteorological data collections as part of the GHCN project.

Time Range

1874 to 1990

Freshness

1990-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Southern Africa (5W to 60E, 5N to 35S)