How to Analyze Weather Data

Collect the Data

• 1

  Begin by selecting the type of weather you are going to analyze. Some people choose to analyze day length, temperature, humidity and precipitation statistics. Other analysts are more interested in the speeds and movement of winds and tornadoes, or the patterns of hurricanes.

• 2

  Go to a reputable source of weather information to gather your data, or collect your own. To collect your own data, you need a thermometer and a rain gauge outside of your window. Every day at the same times, record the temperature, cloud conditions and amount of rain. Do this for 30 days to create a workable database.

• 3

  There are many online databases for extensive meteorological information. In these databases you will be able to find weather data from previous days, weeks, months or years. Some common sources are CNN Weather, The Weather Channel, Intellicast and Accuweather. If you are interested in doing historical analysis of weather, a site like Old Weather is a good start.

• 4

  Record the data you will need for future analysis. Some useful and common data are the times of sunrises and sunsets, humidity readings, temperature reports, precipitation and storm records.

Organize, Visualize and Interpret the Data

• 5

  Once you have your climate data, it needs to be organized into a visually accessible format. Generally, a good start is to create tables of data with labeled columns across the top for the weather data and labeled rows down the side for the dates and times the data was collected. This will help you track changes over time.

• 6

  Start simply by creating a graphic representation of one of the weather variables. For example, chart a bar graph of daily temperature highs and lows for the week or month being analyzed.

• 7

  Now choose a group of data and chart them concurrently. For example, draw up a scatter plot that compares the amount of daily precipitation with the cloud conditions on a given day. After making graphs for multiple factors of data, it will be possible to start making meaningful comparisons between them. Once you have tabled and graphed as much relevant data as possible, you can analyze the data to identify weather patterns and make predictions.