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I'm looking to scrape historical weather data from a very long time ago - ideally, from the late 1800s/ early 1900s - onward. So far, I've collected historical data using Wunderground API. I've also seen previous questions on StackOverflow about collecting historical weather data (such as Where can I find historical raw weather data? and Historical weather data from NOAA) but the named sources don't seem to collect data from this time period.

Are there any good sources of data from that time period? How might we access these data?

Community
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svenkatesh
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    I have noticed that Wunderground goes back to like 1950s, right? I know National Weather Services should have this data, but I am not sure how to get it. – wolfsatthedoor Sep 11 '14 at 12:16
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    I don't think National Weather Services goes back far enough. I want to go back before the 1950s. I see that National Weather Services has these records, but I'm not sure how to get the raw data. – svenkatesh Sep 11 '14 at 12:19
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    Try calling the NOAA's National Climactic Data Center: (828) 271-4800 – moonman239 Nov 15 '16 at 18:04

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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.

David
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