How Weather Stations Have Revolutionized Meteorology: Insights into the Past, Present, and Future of Atmospheric Science
Different weather instruments have been around for a couple of centuries. Since the mid-19th century, these instruments have been used to measure various weather data. This combination of weather instruments is what we call a weather station.
One of the first weather stations is deemed the weather station on the top of the Hohenpeißenberg mountain in the German town with the same name. The weather station opened in 1781 and has had a continuous dataset of the weather since 1781. It is the oldest mountain-top weather station and has one of the oldest continuous meteorological datasets.
Before the era of computers and digitalization, all data must be collected manually at fixed times. The measurements of the weather instruments were carefully noted down, even in the middle of the night.
Over the following centuries, many new weather stations were constructed. These stations consisted of devices to measure temperature, air pressure, humidity and precipitation. Some weather stations also measured wind speed and wind direction and other weather-related parameters. Until the mid-20th century, most countries and weather organizations had their standards and practices regarding the installation of their weather stations. But that would soon change.
