Data sources and provenance
WeatherRecall is an educational interface to archived weather data, not an observing network. Its tables, labels, rankings, and explanatory text are distinct from the upstream data they summarise. A displayed number should not be called a direct observation unless its provenance supports that description.
Primary retrieval: Open-Meteo historical archive
The main lookup requests daily and hourly fields from Open-Meteo's Historical Weather API, using latitude, longitude, date boundaries, and timezone=auto. Variables include maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation totals, wind and gusts, weather codes, humidity, cloud cover, and surface pressure.
Open-Meteo documents historical products including ECMWF ERA5 and ERA5-Land. Reanalysis combines observations with modelling to reconstruct spatially consistent history. The main request does not pin a models parameter, so this site does not claim that every response always uses one fixed dataset or spatial resolution. Consult provider documentation for availability, update latency, units, attribution, and terms.
Station metadata is not station observations
The station catalog helps identify nearby coordinates. In the current main lookup, candidate station locations are also queried through Open-Meteo. Nearby results can be inverse-distance weighted and blended, but these remain archive estimates at station coordinates. Listing a KNMI, DWD, or other station does not demonstrate that its instrument measurements were downloaded from that agency. Proximity alone is not a validated accuracy rating.
Derived information
Condition categories and weather scores are application-defined transformations. Frequencies count categories within the retrieved sample. City and year reports aggregate archive series over their respective windows. Global rankings use stored WeatherRecall lookup summaries rather than a systematic survey of every location. Search popularity measures user interest, not climate severity.
Cloud-based sunny-profile indicators are proxies, not measured sunshine duration. An anomaly needs a named comparison baseline; a record needs a stated sample and period. Missing fields, failed requests, and short windows can weaken conclusions. We do not invent observations to fill gaps, and readers should check underlying values rather than treat generated prose as independent evidence.
Independent references, not implied integrations
- ECMWF ERA5 documentation explains the reanalysis approach and its scope.
- NOAA Climate Data Online offers station-based historical records for independent checks where available. It is not claimed as a direct feed for every WeatherRecall lookup.
- NOAA climate normals explain formal baseline products; a short site comparison is not automatically a certified climate normal.
For reproducibility, record coordinates, dates, units, lookback years, retrieval date, and source notes. See methodology and report a discrepancy. Educational synthesis is not a certified forecast, official record certification, or personalized safety advice.