1 DayMonitoring Weather in the Williamstown Area
Since 1983, the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College has
monitored weather in Williamstown at a site in Hopkins Memorial
Forest (HMF), a 2500 acre preserve managed for research, education
and passive recreation. Archived records currently include:
Individuals and institutions have recorded systematic observations of weather
in Williamstown and nearby communities since the early part of the
19th century (see W. I. Milham, 1950, "Meteorology and meteorological
observations in Williams College, also at the Hopkins Memorial.
Experimental Forest and in North Adams"). Early measurements
consisted of air temperature, daily precipitation, wind direction
and sky cover. Snowfall was measured irregularly beginning about
1890 in Williamstown, North Adams and at the Notch Reservoir on
the north flank of Mt. Greylock in North Adams. The early records
are valuable for the historic perspective that they provide, but
many are discontinuous and locally incomplete as institutional needs
and weather observers changed over time.
- Historic records of precipitation, snowfall and temperature in the Williamstown area derived from several sources
- 1983-1987-Temperature and precipitation reduced from analog recordings at Station 1
- 1987-Present-Barometric pressure, precipitation (snowfall beginning in 1994), relative humidity, solar radiation, temperature, and wind speed and direction from digital readings at Station 1.
- 2004-Present-Water level measured in two wells (shallow has piezometer at -6 m; deep has piezometer at -16 m). Both wells are developed in glacial deposits. Soil temperature is measured 10 and 80 cm below ground surface. Wells and the soil temperature site are adjacent to Station #1.
