Imagine this: 75 degrees, sunny, 0% chance of precipitation. Sounds like a dream, right? Know what else is a dream? Citing weather reports in your research project. It’s a breeze! (no pun intended!) We will show you how and it’s not as tough as you may think.
Researchers cite weather reports quite often. These reports can be used when including information about historical events or extreme weather occurrences. Even global warming.
Check out our instructions below to cite weather reports in MLA format, APA, or Chicago. For this example, we’ll use a weather report found on the website, Weather Underground (this article is not an endorsement of the website). Weather Underground allows users to search for daily weather information all the way back from 1949 until today.
To cite a weather report found online, you’ll need to locate the following pieces of information:
- Title of the individual page the weather report is found on
- Title of the website the weather report is found on
- Date the weather report was published, modified, or accessed
- Publisher of the website
- URL of the website
Use the following structure to cite a weather report found on a website in MLA 9:
“Title of the individual page the weather report is found on.” Title of the Website, Publisher of the website (only include if it’s different than the name of the website), date of the weather report (if not included in weather report title), URL (remove http:// or https://).
Here’s how the above example would be cited as an MLA website citation
“Weather History for Northeast Philadelphia, PA for Tuesday, November 2, 1982.” Weather Underground, The Weather Company, www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPNE/1982/11/2/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=.
Use the following structure to cite a weather report found on a website in APA format:
Title of individual page [Weather report]. Retrieved from URL
Here’s how the above example would be as an APA citation:
Weather history for northeast Philadelphia, PA for Tuesday, November 2, 1982 [Weather report]. Retrieved from https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPNE/1982/11/2/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=
Here’s more information if you’re looking to cite this as an APA in text citation.
Use the following structure to cite a weather report found on a website in Chicago:
The Title of the Website the Weather Report is Found on. “Title of the Individual Page the Weather Report is Found On.” Date published or Last modified. If this information is unavailable, include the Accessed date. URL.
Here’s how the above example would be cited in Chicago:
Weather Underground. “Weather History for Northeast Philadelphia, PA for Tuesday, November 2, 1982.” Last modified January 29, 2018. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPNE/1982/11/2/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=.
Here’s more information if you’re looking to cite this as a Chicago in text citation.
For all of your citation needs, try Cite This For Me’s reference and bibliography tools!