Stockholm Meteorological Station – Stockholm, Sweden - Atlas Obscura

Stockholm Meteorological Station

One of the world's oldest continuously operating meteorological stations sits on a hill in Stockholm. 

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Understanding, tracking, and predicting the weather is something that humanity has been obsessed with for millennia. However, it wasn’t until the 18th century that science was able to develop accurate tools and data storage methods to understand weather patterns.

Around this time, meteorological institutions began to pop up across the globe along with the construction of weather stations. Sweden’s first weather station was designed by Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, the secretary of the Swedish Royal Society and director of the Stockholm Observatory in 1754. 

Wargentin tweaked and perfected various methods utilized to take weather measurements, which eventually became so precise his measurements were recognized as the average temperature of the region. 

The station has been updated over the centuries, but its core function never changed. It’s seen as the oldest continuously running weather station that has not been moved. 

Nowadays, observations of temperature, precipitation, snow depth, air pressure, humidity, wind, visibility, cloud, and weather conditions are carried out three times a day.

Know Before You Go

The weather station is on the top of the observatory hill. It's freely accessible but fenced off to prevent visitors from influencing the measurements. Please do not try to cross the fence.

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April 20, 2020

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