Digitizing Canada's Weather History Boosts Climate Science
9 hours ago
- Researchers have digitized nearly two million 18th- and 19th-century weather observations from Canada, covering 1768 to 1884, improving climate understanding.
- The data includes temperature, precipitation, wind, and detailed descriptions of events like storms and floods, revealing past extreme weather.
- Records were obtained from UK and US archives, including logs from Hudson's Bay Company employees and missionaries.
- The project fills a knowledge gap, especially for northern and western Canada, showing weather was more variable during the Little Ice Age than the 20th century.
- Findings help contextualize modern extreme weather events, questioning if they are truly unprecedented or under-recorded.