I'd like to have sources at hand for daily weather records in southern
New England going back as far as they are reliably kept.  These can be
specific data (temperature ranges, precipitation records on any given day),
or narrative records from logbooks of lighthouses and life-saving
stations, or accounts from diaries.  I'm primarily interested in the
area around Cape Cod and the Islands.  Basically I'd like to be able
to go to one or two reliable sources to find out, as specifically as
possible, what the weather was like in southeastern Massachusetts area
on any given day in history.

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 17 Apr 2003 20:17 PDT

What period of years would be the minimum needed for a satisfactory
answer?  How many and which locations would be need to be included?

---

Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 18 Apr 2003 03:49 PDT

Hello again, Scott.  As I understand it, the National Weather Service
starting keeping records going back to 1875. And I have seen records
for certain places (from lighthouse logs, and records kept at stations
of the U.S. Life-Saving Service) that go back farther than that. If I
can get back to the last quarter of the 19th century, that would be
great. But I'll take the whole of the 20th century, or as much of the
20th century, as I can get. In terms of locations: Ideally, I'd like
the records from one or more coastal towns from anyplace on Cape Cod,
Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket.   The closer to the Cape and Islands,
just one location will do. Away from the Cape and Islands, the more
coastal locations, the better.

Thanks, and good luck,
mccook