Station Changes in the Temperature Record
4,258 of 7,748 stations tested against their neighbours show a suspected change in annual mean temperature. The largest, and what a shift means.
Data as of . Last revised (2026-10-12).
Key Facts
- 7,748 stations with at least 40 complete years and at least 3 suitable neighbours were tested; 4,258 have at least one suspected change (55 percent).
- Each station's annual mean temperature is compared with up to 5 neighbours within 250 km using the standard normal homogeneity test.
- A suspected change is a possible change at the station (a move, a new instrument or a new site); the record is kept as measured.
- The largest listed shift is -4.4 C (-8.0 F) at Presa Danxho (Mexico) from 1978, with 5 neighbours.
How Suspected Changes Are Found
A weather station can change without the weather changing: it can be moved, get a new instrument or a new housing, or have its surroundings built up. Any of these can shift its readings up or down. The test looks for such a step by comparing a station with its neighbours, because neighbours share the regional weather and the step stands out in the difference.
Only stations with at least 40 complete years are tested. A year is complete when all 12 months have at least 20 days of both daily maximum and daily minimum readings. For each station, up to 5 neighbouring stations are chosen: within 250 km, with at least 30 complete years in common and annual temperature anomalies that move together (a correlation of 0.6 or more). A station with fewer than 3 such neighbours is not tested.
For each year, the station's annual mean temperature is compared with the mean of its neighbours, and the standard normal homogeneity test (Alexandersson, 1986) looks for the year at which that difference most likely steps up or down. A step that passes the test's critical value for the length of the series is listed as a suspected change at that year. A second and third change are searched for only when the remaining segments each have at least 20 years, and at most 3 are listed for a station. How this build's file describes its method: Each station with at least 40 complete years was compared with up to 5 neighbouring stations within 250 km (at least 30 years in common and a correlation of annual mean temperature of at least 0.6; stations with fewer than 3 such neighbours were not tested). The standard normal homogeneity test (Alexandersson 1986) was applied to the difference between the station and its neighbours, with 95 percent (possible) and 99 percent (likely) critical values that depend on the length of the series, up to 3 changes per station, and none in the first or last 5 years. A change is a sign of a move, a new instrument or a new site, not of the weather, and the record is kept as measured.
What a Shift Means, and What It Does Not
The shift is the mean of the station's difference from its neighbours after the year, minus the mean before it, in degrees C. A positive shift means the station's annual mean temperature ran higher relative to its neighbours after that year than before it, and a negative shift lower. It is not a change in the station's own temperature: a station can warm and still show a negative shift if its neighbours warmed more.
A "likely" change has a larger test statistic than a "possible" one. Neither says why the station differs from its neighbours. The strength depends on the size of the step and on how steady the difference series is, so a small step in a very steady series can be rated higher than a large step in a noisy one.
Possible change at the station (a move, a new instrument or a new site); the record is kept as measured. The test does not know what happened at the station and this site does not claim a cause. A change that all the neighbours share, such as a regional warm spell, cancels out and is not flagged. Records are not adjusted: this site keeps every station record as measured and shows the suspected changes beside it.
Counts
As of 2026-10-12| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Stations tested | 7,748 |
| Stations with at least one suspected change | 4,258 (55%) |
| Largest changes listed below | 200 |
| Listed as likely | 171 |
| Listed as possible | 29 |
| Listed with a positive shift | 117 |
| Listed with a negative shift | 83 |
The Largest Suspected Changes
200 by size of shiftThe table lists the changes with the largest shifts, in either direction. Each is a suspected change, not a confirmed one. Possible change at the station (a move, a new instrument or a new site); the record is kept as measured.
Download the Data
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-Daily). Records are computed by World Extreme Weather Monitor and are not official NOAA products. (US Government open data (NOAA NCEI)) Data as of 2026-10-12. Suspected changes are computed by this site and are not official.