Historical and Volunteer Climate Data, with Cary Mock and Theresa Crimmins

This episode of Warm Regards continues our exploration of the often unexpected stories behind climate data. First we explore historical climatology records with Dr. Cary Mock. These are the measurements and observations of things like wind, pressure, rainfall, and more found in archives and historical societies around the world. Then, we turn to the present and talk with Dr. Theresa Crimmins, Director of the National Phenology Network, about how volunteers can contribute their own climatological and ecological observations. In doing so, they can better understand not only how climate change is affecting their immediate environment, but also assist in large-scale climate change research.

For a transcript of this episode, visit our Medium page:

https://ourwarmregards.medium.com/historical-and-volunteer-climate-data-with-cary-mock-and-theresa-crimmins-a4f7f7370f23

Show Notes

For more on the weather of The Long Winter and the work of meterologist Barbara Mayes Boustead, check out this Boing Boing article by Maggie Koerth:

https://boingboing.net/2012/12/11/the-meteorology-of-little-hous.html

You can also check out Barbara’s series of recorded presentations about the weather of the Little House books:

http://www.bousteadhill.net/lauraslongwinter/

This essay on the Little House books and the “myth of white self-sufficiency” explores the ways that the authors’ political agendas heavily influenced the series:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/in-promoting-the-myth-of-white-self-sufficiency-the-little-house-books-rewrite-history/16545/?fbclid=IwAR3xRlBjiHUuqFoOxC71MqyCl-BRCmSI1z3AuA1mgf40uDrNWWh-1kYk-yM

To learn more about the Schoolhouse Blizzard and its influence on weather forecasting, check out the following:

David Laskin’s book, The Children’s Blizzard

https://bookshop.org/books/the-children-s-blizzard/9780060520762

This interactive website by the National Weather Service (complete with historical accounts):

https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=3b68adee4e9545b7abdd7355ab7fe367

To learn more (including some neat photos of historical documents) about the ‘Year Without a Summer,’ check out this website from the Massachusetts Historical Society:

https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2016/11/1815-the-year-without-a-summer/

You can learn more about Dr. Mock’s historical climatology work, including photos of the kinds of documents he works with, at his website:

http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/geog/research/climatelab/historical/historical.html

You can also follow him on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/cary_mock?lang=en

Here are some other community and citizen science projects mentioned in the episode that you can get involved in:

Zooniverse: https://www.zooniverse.org

SciStarter: https://scistarter.org

CoCoRHAS: https://www.cocorahs.org

ISeeChange: https://www.iseechange.org

Visit the National Phenology Network's website to learn more about the organization's history and current projects:

https://www.usanpn.org

Explore the data visualization tool mentioned in the episode:

https://www.usanpn.org/data/visualizations

To start contributing your own observations through Nature's Notebook, visit the project's website:

https://www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook

You can also download the app on the iOS App Store or Google Play:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/natures-notebook/id508465801?ls=1

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.usanpn.android.naturesnotebook

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https://www.patreon.com/warmregards

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