EDIT: I just realized this question is very old (5 years) but my answer is still relevant.
You do have interesting questions. Weather data almost seems like it's on a "need to know" basis, sadly! However I have broken through walls in the past year trying every process I can think of.
My answer :
You can submit a Freedom of Information Act request to NOAA - They are compliant and I have gone through the process before. (It does take some time!) The data is packaged by NOAA and placed on an FTP server. Easy as pie!
Here is the NOAA link which explains more :
https://www.noaa.gov/foia-freedom-of-information-act
In my experience, they were easy to talk to and I was able to email back and forth with a NOAA employee that answered all of my questions. As long as you aren't looking for entire servers of information they are very reasonable about helping!
I know tons of sources for all kinds of weather data, so feel free to comment if you need anything. Historical data going back SO far as you are looking for is one of the things I have not checked on, so I will be interested to follow this.