Climate history database for Sweden 1500-1870

Information about weather-related conditions in Sweden during the period 1500-1870 has been extracted from various historical documents. The information is presented as cited text, together with the date and geographical region for which the information is relevant.

Since the database essentially consists of excerpts from different historical documentary sources of various kinds (Institutional chronicles, accountings, private weather diaries etc) the language is Swedish, though citations of original texts are occasionally given in other languages whenever relevant and when other languages were originally used.

See the Swedish description for more information.

The database contains a large number of contemporary descriptions for the period 1500–1870 from various types of documents — direct observations in diaries, administrative notes on activities that have been affected by weather conditions, letter collections, newspaper articles, etc. — of weather conditions in Sweden within current borders.


** Database file structure and content:

The database is collected in a spreadsheet (xlsx). The same information is also presented in a semicolon-separated text file (csv) (character set: Western Europe, ISO-8859-15 / EURO). File size: 1.6 MB (xlsx) and 4.1 MB (csv). The number of file rows, including the title row, is 20896.

In addition to the data file itself, the dataset also contains a source list in xlsx format. The file has two pages: "Otryckta källor" (unprinted sources) and "Bibliografi" (bibliography). The same information is also presented in two comma-separated csv files (character set: Western Europe, ISO-8859-15 / EURO).

The main database file contains information in eight columns with the following headings (here also translated to English):

* År (year)
* Månad (month)
* Dag (day)
* Annan tidsangivelse (other time indication)
* Område (area)
* Väder (weather)
* Källa (source)
* Ytterligare hänvisning/information (additional reference / information)

The database main language is Swedish. Quotations of writings in old language are generally preserved as in their original spellings.

For a more detailed description of the database content, please see the Swedish data description.


** Main sources and collection method:

The data collection was performed by systematically reading through available archive material and literature relevant to the subject. Information that was considered to be of value for climate history was entered into the database, either as a quotation or in the form of comments, together with an indication of the source material for each individual item (row) in the database. Each such item refers to a more or less specified geographical location and either a specific date or an approximate time period.

Data have been collected along three main channels: unprinted archive material, printed sources and literature.

Unprinted archive material has been retrieved mainly from the National Archives. For the period 1500–1540, data comes mainly from the database of the "Svenskt diplomatariums huvudkartotek" (Sdhk) (Swedish diplomatarium's main file). For the time thereafter, data from, among others, the "Riksregistraturet" (national registry), a collection of copies of letters issued by the "kungliga kansliet" (royal chancellery), has been used. Several unprinted letters, diaries, accounts and reports have also been searched.

A particularly extensive individual source is Märta Helena Reenstierna's (known as the Årsta lady) diaries from Årsta Gård in Stockholm, written during the period 1793–1839 and kept in the Nordic Museum's archives. These diaries contain a large number of notes on local weather conditions. More than half of all individual entries in the database originate from the Årsta diaries.

Printed sources include editions of source publications such as Gustav Vasa's (King Gustav I of Sweden) letters in 29 volumes. There are also the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' Transactions which, among other things, contain meteorological observations.

The category literature contains a number of local historical presentations. There are also early attempts at climate historical overviews and interpretations. Corporate history and military history literature have also been used.


** The roles of primary researchers during the construction of the database

The main part of the work with building up the database was done during the period 2006–2010 by Johan Söderberg, Lotta Leijonhufvud, Dag Retsö and Ulrica Söderlind at the Department of Economic History, Stockholm University, under the leadership of Johan Söderberg. Curation of the database prior to publication in SND was carried out during 2019–2020 by Lotta Leijonhufvud in collaboration with Anders Moberg, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University.

Previous, unpublished, versions of the database have been used in the following studies (see list of publications):

- Edvinsson et al. (2009). Väder, skördar och priser i Sverige.
- Leijonhufuvud et al. (2010). Five centuries of Stockholm winter/spring temperatures reconstructed from documentary evidence and instrumental observations.
- Wetter et al. (2014). The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case.
- Retsö (2015). Documentary evidence of historical floods and extreme rainfall events in Sweden 1400–1800. Show less..