What was the weather like? I would like to build context for certain genealogical events I am researching, and one component - as dull as it may seem - is weather. For example, it would be interesting to know what the weather was like on the day my ancestors got married, or for my farmer ancestors when the long cold winters occurred. What resources are available to determine the meteorological conditions in England on a certain date or season, particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? Obviously weather will vary by region - my focus is in the East Midlands. Resources about major weather events as well as mundane British summer showers (looking out the window now) are both useful.

Newspapers are the obvious source but thin out as one gets further back.

One resource that is clearly a labour of love, records Historical Weather Events in the UK, collected (it looks like) from a variety of sources.

However, note the warning on that screen that the site will disappear at some point. All is not lost, however, as it is one of those archived by the British Library. Go to the UK Web Archive and enter 'Booty Meteorological' in the search box ( _make sure there is no extraneous text - for whatever reason I seemed to fail dismally at that on several occasions - possibly too impatient to clear out the prompt_ ). Follow the links on the resulting site for "Meteorology", then "Weather in History / Here".

However you get to the data, it's pot luck whether you find anything for your era and area, but I'm impressed with what's there.