Science history
Weather instruments history
From 1643 mercury barometers to modern satellite data, here is the story of every instrument used to measure Earth's atmosphere.
The 17th century — foundations
1593 Thermometer
Galileo's water thermoscope. Precursor to modern thermometer.
1643 Barometer
Evangelista Torricelli. Mercury column measured atmospheric pressure.
1648 Blaise Pascal
Confirmed pressure varies with altitude via barometer experiments.
1662 Hygrometer
Christopher Wren's early humidity measuring device.
The 18th century — measurement standards
1714 Fahrenheit thermometer
Daniel Fahrenheit invented reliable mercury thermometer.
1742 Celsius thermometer
Anders Celsius invented centigrade scale.
1783 Balloon flight
Montgolfier brothers ascend into atmosphere.
1783 Balloon meteorology
John Jeffries measured atmospheric parameters aloft.
1789 Hygrometer improved
Horace-Bénédict de Saussure's hair hygrometer.
The 19th century — networks emerge
1837 Wind vane
Alexander Wilson standardized wind direction indicator.
1846 Anemometer
Robinson's four-cup anemometer. Still in use in principle.
1848 Weather map
First daily surface map published in Britain.
1850 Telegraph weather
Joseph Henry established Smithsonian volunteer observer network via telegraph.
1854 Naval routing
Matthew Maury's ocean weather charts revolutionized shipping.
1857 Buys Ballot's Law
Wind rotates around lows.
1876 Beaufort scale
Standardized wind speed observation.
1888 Sunshine recorder
Campbell-Stokes device measured hours of sunshine.
1894 Marconi wireless
Foundational for radio-based weather.
1898 Radiosonde precursor
Léon Teisserenc de Bort discovered stratosphere via kite.
The early 20th century — remote sensing
1902 Weather radio
First transatlantic weather signal.
1904 Norwegian school
Vilhelm Bjerknes founded modern meteorology.
1919 First radiosonde balloon
Pierre Idrac and Robert Bureau launched from Toulouse.
1928 Modern radiosonde
Pavel Molchanov standardized radiosonde. Still in use.
1929 Weather aviation
First airline meteorologists.
1935 First tornado forecast
Edwin Kessler's early attempts.
1936 Norwegian air mass model
Framework for modern forecasting.
1938 Air raid warning system
Precursor to weather sirens.
WWII and post-war revolution
1940 Radar precipitation
British radar operators noted rain returns.
1948 First tornado warning
Fawbush and Miller at Tinker AFB.
1950 First computer forecast
ENIAC ran first numerical prediction.
1957 First satellite
Sputnik included atmospheric sensor.
1960 TIROS-1
First weather satellite. Global cloud imagery.
1961 ATLAS-Centaur satellite
Continuous coverage established.
1968 NOAA established
Consolidation of US weather services.
1974 GOES program
Geostationary weather satellites.
The digital era (1970s-1990s)
1970s Personal computers
Individual chasers with weather data.
1974 WSR-57 radar
First national radar network.
1985 First mobile Doppler
Portable radar for research.
1988 WSR-88D deployment
NEXRAD Doppler network.
1990 First Internet weather
PSU e-Wall.
1994 VORTEX
Coordinated field campaign.
1996 Weather Underground
Wide public data access.
1999 First measured F5 winds
301 mph at Bridge Creek OK.
The 21st century — everywhere sensors
2000 Home weather stations
Consumer market emerges.
2005 iPhone
Phone-based weather apps everywhere.
2011 Dual-polarization radar
Nationwide upgrade complete.
2012 WEA
Wireless Emergency Alerts on phones.
2016 GOES-R
Modern geostationary satellite.
2018 GOES-17 mishap
Cooling system failure. Recovered.
2023 GraphCast
AI weather forecasting matches ECMWF.
2024 Aurora
Microsoft foundation model for weather.
2025 Continuous refresh models
HRRR every 5 min.
The specific instruments still in use
- Mercury barometer — 380 years old. Reference standard.
- Cup anemometer — 180 years old. Standard wind measurement.
- Radiosonde balloon — 106 years old. Still launched twice daily worldwide.
- Doppler radar — 60 years old technology. Continually refined.
- Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) — 30 years old.
- Personal weather stations — 25 years mainstream.
- Weather satellites — 65 years old.
The obsolete instruments
- Kite sondes (1898-1930s).
- Barograph on paper drum (1850s-1990s).
- Airplane meteorograph (1920s-1950s).
- Ceiling balloons (1940s-1980s).
- Manual Stevenson screens (1870s-present, being phased out).
- Punch card weather data (1960s-1980s).
The future instruments
- Autonomous drones as mobile weather stations.
- Ocean gliders.
- Saildrones.
- CubeSat weather satellites.
- Phased-array radar (deployed in some sites).
- Full-tropospheric lidar.
- AI-augmented all-sky cameras.
- Crowdsourced sensor networks.
- Vehicle-borne mobile weather stations feeding NWS.