Summary of the Day (CDMP): U.S. Weather Observations from 1945-1948

U.S. daily weather observations recorded by certified observers at 169 stations operated by the U.S. Weather Bureau, later the National Weather Service, and the Federal Aviation Administration. The data spans from 1945 to 1948, with observations generally recorded for 24-hour periods from midnight to midnight. These first and second order stations were usually fully instrumented, likely recording a complete range of meteorological parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyze daily temperature trends based on recorded meteorological parameters.
• Study the historical distribution of weather stations based on their location in major cities and airports.
• Investigate the evolution of aviation weather observation standards during the specified time period.
• Correlate historical weather events with station data from the 169 locations.

Strengths

• Data spans a defined 4-year period from 1945 to 1948.
• Contains observations from 169 distinct weather stations across the U.S.
• Stations were operated by official agencies (U.S. Weather Bureau, NWS, FAA) and were usually fully instrumented.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last updated 1948-12-31 00:00:00; freshness should be verified for modern applications.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information), sourced from NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Observations recorded by certified observers at first and second order weather stations.

Time Range

1945-1948

Freshness

Data collection ended in 1948.

Geography

United States