Volunteers from Reading have helped to uncover 150 year old weather data collated by the founder of the UK Met Office.

In the 19th century Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy, founder of the UK Met Office, started collating measurements on pressure, temperature, and rainfall from across Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe in 1860.

These observations were sent by telegraph cable to London every day where they were used to make a ‘weather forecast’ – a term invented by Fitzroy for this endeavour.

Volunteer citizen scientists have now uncovered the data it is hoped scientists will better understand changes in extreme weather.

The data have been published in the Geoscience Data Journal, where more than 570,000 historical weather observations from 1861-1875 have been documented, fulfilling a vision first set out by Vice-Admiral Fitzroy to better warn of extreme weather conditions for cargo ships and fishing fleets.

Professor Ed Hawkins, an NCAS University of Reading climate scientist who led the weather recovery, said: "Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy pioneered weather forecasting and collected some of the earliest coordinated meteorological data starting in 1860.

"Inspired by the sinking of the Royal Charter ship in a severe storm in October 1859, his daily weather reports were the genesis of real-time weather prediction to warn the public of impending storms.

"Sadly he did not live to see his vision fully realised. More than 150 years later, we have finally completed digitising Fitzroy's early weather records thanks to the efforts of volunteers.”

Initial comparisons reveal Fitzroy’s recovered sea-level pressure measurements will improve existing reconstructions of past storms. 

Professor Hawkins said: “Rescuing these observations enables us to reconstruct key historical storms and other extreme weather with greater accuracy, improving our understanding of the climate during this time.

"As climate change accelerates, maintaining weather records is more critical than ever for understanding how extreme weather is changing and so ensure more reliable predictions.”

After the Royal Charter ship sank in a violent storm in 1859, Fitzroy resolved to collect real-time weather measurements from stations across Britain's telegraph network to make storm warnings.

Starting in 1860, observers telegraphed readings to Fitzroy in London who handwrote them onto Daily Weather Report sheets, enabling the first-ever public weather forecasts starting on August 1, 1861 and published daily in The Times newspaper.

Fitzroy died by suicide in 1865 shortly after founding the UK Met Office, leaving his life's work trapped undiscovered in archives.

More than 150 years later, Professor Hawkins coordinated a team of more than 3,500 online Zooniverse.org platform volunteers to digitise the weather records from Fitzroy’s Daily Weather Reports.