Daily european weather data of past few years for non commercial use

Question

I am looking for wheather data for european cities of the past few years (say since 2000). The data should have at least a daily record for min/max temperature and precipitation. It would be cool if the data also showed sun shine duration and how cloudy a day was.

This data would be for non commercial use.

Answer 1

In the past I've used the Weather Underground API, which allows for 500 calls per day. See my answer here for some details - LINK.

In their TOS they say you can even use for commercial use (but read the small print!)

WUL licenses to you a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license for your personal or commercial use.

My python 2.7 code snippet (shared here). Because there are only 500 calls allowed for free per day, I retrieved one year per day:

import requests
def get_precip(gooddate):
    urlstart = 'http://api.wunderground.com/api/INSERT_KEY_HERE/history_'
    urlend = '/q/Switzerland/Zurich.json'

    url = urlstart + str(gooddate) + urlend
    data = requests.get(url).json()
    for summary in data['history']['dailysummary']:
        print ','.join((gooddate,summary['date']['year'],summary['date']['mon'],summary['date']['mday'],summary['precipm'], summary['maxtempm'], summary['meantempm'],summary['mintempm']))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    from datetime import date
    from dateutil.rrule import rrule, DAILY

    a = date(2013, 1, 1)
    b = date(2013, 12, 31)

    for dt in rrule(DAILY, dtstart=a, until=b):
        get_precip(dt.strftime("%Y%m%d"))

Answer 2

The best solution so far is "Global Summary of the Day".

Description from Catalog.Data.Gov: http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/global-surface-summary-of-the-day-gsod

Data: ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/gsod/

Depth: Since 1901.

Restrictions: "However, for non-U.S. locations' data, the data or any derived product shall not be provided to other users or be used for the re-export of commercial service."

Answer 3

Here are some international sources for climate data:

UNDP Country Climate Data Profiles
http://undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/environment-energy/climate_change/adaptation/undp_climate_changecountryprofiles.html

European Climate Assessment & Dataset Climate
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/environment-energy/climate_change/adaptation/undp_climate_changecountryprofiles.html

European Meteorological Society
http://www.emetsoc.org/resources/meteorological-and-hydrological-services

World Meteorological Society
http://www.wmo.int

United Kingdom Meteorological Office (Met Office)
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

Albania The Hydrometeorological Institute
no web site

Austria - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik
https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/en/news

Belgium - Meteorological Office
http://www.meteo.be/meteo

Bulgaria - National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
http://www.meteo.bg/en

Crotia - Meteorological and Hydrological Service
http://meteo.hr

Czech Republic - Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
http://www.chmi.cz

Denmark - Danish Meteorological Institute
http://www.dmi.dk

Estonia - Estonian Weather Service
http://www.ilmateenistus.ee/

Finland - Finnish Meteorological Institute
http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/

France - Meteo France
http://www.meteofrance.com

Germany - Weather and Climate - Deutscher Wetterdienst
http://www.dwd.de/

Greece - Hellenic National Meteorological Service
http://www.hnms.gr

Iceland - Icelandic Meteorological Office
http://en.vedur.is/

Ireland - Met Éireann
http://www.met.ie/

Italy Servizio Meteorologico Aeronautica Militare
http://www.meteoam.it/