The Berkeley Weather Station is a senior member of the national Cooperative Weather Observation Program (CWOP). The program traces its origin back to Thomas Jefferson and his appointment of official weather recorders in 6 states between 1776 and 1812. By 1890, the year the Berkeley station set up their first standard 8" rain gauge, the program was well represented on the west coast and included 2000 stations nation-wide. Today the CWOP is a network of roughly 12,000 volunteer-run weather observation sites scattered across the country.
The Berkeley station has maintained a nearly unbroken sequence of temperature and precipitation observations since 1890. Early observations were recorded by the Department of Astronomy on Observatory Hill, just east of what is now McCone Hall. The Department of Geography assumed station duties in 1912. Berkeley observations are compiled monthly, integrating both manually and electronically recorded data. This monthly record is sent to various university agencies as well as other users upon request. These records are also incorporated into national archival datasets, such as those at the National Climate Data Center, where they become part of important climate change studies.
The Berkeley Weather Station is the oldest continuously operationing weather observing station in California. For information contact the Campus Weather Observer, Dan Plumlee, telephone 642-4368, dplum@berkeley.edu.
