How to Build a City Climate Profile

Last updated: 2026-10-06. Reviewed: 2026-10-06.

A city climate profile should answer what seasonal conditions are typical, how widely they vary and which parts of the city the data represent. It is not a list of record highs with a city name attached. A useful profile lets a reader understand its baseline and reproduce its calculations before using the summary for travel or research.

Editorial basis: This WeatherRecall editorial project guide is an educational synthesis of the listed public documentation, not a credentialed meteorologist's analysis or a field-tested city survey. All numerical examples are hypothetical and do not describe real observations.

Define what the city label means

Specify coordinates, elevation and the intended spatial meaning: city centre, airport station, neighbourhood or a gridded regional estimate. A large urban area can contain coastlines, hills and dense built environments with different exposures. One point is a representation choice, not a complete description of every resident's surroundings.

Name the source and whether values are observations or reanalysis.
Record station identity or grid selection and returned coordinates.
State local time zone and units.
Explain why the selected location is suitable for the profile's purpose.
Identify important terrain or urban differences not represented.

The Open-Meteo historical API documentation describes coordinate requests, grid selection and elevation handling. Requested and returned locations can differ. Preserve that metadata rather than silently presenting a model grid value as a thermometer reading at the town hall.

Fix a comparable period and dataset

Choose a stated multi-year baseline before calculating summaries. Keep a consistent source and model across that period. Open-Meteo recommends consistent reanalysis products for long-term climate comparisons rather than combining changing operational model versions. If records come from a station, check relocations, instrument changes and known breaks before interpreting a trend.

The WMO climate overview emphasizes long-term monitoring and comparable, quality-controlled information. A brief convenience sample should not be advertised as an official climate normal. Label it as a sample-period profile and show its start and end dates, available years and completeness policy.

Choose how to handle incomplete months. Excluding them may reduce the sample, while treating missing precipitation as zero biases totals downward. Calculate and publish coverage separately for each variable. A complete temperature record does not establish complete rainfall coverage, and broad model continuity does not remove representativeness uncertainty.

Construct a seasonal profile, not one annual average

Build monthly summaries that retain the difference between temperature and precipitation. For temperature, report mean conditions alongside distributions of daily minima and maxima. For precipitation, summarize monthly totals, wet-day frequency under an explicit analytical definition and interannual spread. Sunshine duration, humidity and wind can enrich the profile if their definitions and availability are clear.

Keep units and aggregation levels visible. Averaging monthly mean temperatures equally is not identical to averaging all daily temperatures because month lengths differ. A median monthly rainfall total describes a typical month's total, whereas an average daily rainfall amount describes another quantity. Explain which question each statistic answers.

Use a consistent month-by-month table and attach a plain-language reading guide. Describe seasonal transitions and variability without promising a dry month or a comfortable day. If adding recent-period comparisons, keep the original baseline visible so readers can distinguish an updated climate context from a calculation change.

Hypothetical worked example: two ways to summarize rain

Suppose a hypothetical profile has ten complete examples of a particular month. Nine hypothetical monthly totals are 40 mm each, while one is 240 mm. The illustrative mean is 60 mm, calculated from a combined 600 mm divided by ten months. The illustrative median is 40 mm.

Neither statistic is wrong. The mean retains the influence of the unusually wet hypothetical month; the median describes the middle of this invented distribution. Reporting only the mean could suggest more regular rainfall than occurred, while reporting only the median could underplay a consequential wet tail. Include both and the sample size.

Now suppose the hypothetical wettest month had most rain in brief episodes. Without hourly data, do not claim that visitors encountered rain throughout the month. A climate profile should separate total quantity, occurrence and persistence. This distinction also explains why a city described as relatively dry can still need serious flood preparedness.

Publish an audit trail and representation limits

ECMWF's ERA5 description explains reanalysis as the integration of observations and a numerical model. Its consistent framework is useful for comparisons, but local extremes and neighbourhood effects may be smoothed. A profile based on it should say estimated or reconstructed rather than imply direct measurement at every location.

Publish source links, retrieval date, variable names, baseline, coverage exclusions and calculation choices. Note that weather history is not a forecast and that climate can change. Do not diagnose a city's long-term trend from a single warm season, or attribute an individual event's causes solely from the profile.

The final summary should name its strongest use and its weakest claim. Seasonal comparison may be well supported while neighbourhood comfort, storm impacts or exact-date expectations remain uncertain. Link readers to more specific date and annual analyses rather than forcing the city profile to answer questions beyond its spatial and temporal scope.

City climate profile FAQ

Can an airport station represent the city centre?

Sometimes for broad seasonal context, but urban development, elevation and exposure may differ. State the station's location and limits rather than presenting it as identical to every neighbourhood.

Why include the median monthly rainfall?

Rainfall can be skewed by very wet months. The median adds typical-month context, while the mean and upper tail retain information about the broader water balance and unusual conditions.

Is a recent short sample a climate normal?

Not automatically. Label the sample period honestly and avoid claiming official-normal status. A short sample can be informative, but unusual years may strongly influence its summary.

References

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City climate profiles · Weather comparison · Annual weather reports · Data methodology