Observing London

Weather observations are some of the most important data required to enable London to function. They are used by everyone to know when to take an umbrella or wrap up warm, but they are also critical for transport, businesses and government. Observations allow us to respond to extreme weather events, build long-term resilience and monitor the impacts and effectiveness of our adaptation strategy.

The Observing London project builds upon LCCP’s report published last year and its main recommendation: that a London Climate Data Portal should be built. Currently there is a large amount of weather data (of enormous value to a range of sectors) collected in London (with around 260 stations) however despite its value it is not accessible or even available in some cases.

LCCP held the ‘Observing London – Resilience, Data and Enterprise’ meeting in November with leading figures from across London’s sectors (including Google, Future Cities Catapult and Open Data Institute) to discuss how we make the city become a world leader in environmental data innovation and resilience. After the meeting there was a large amount of support from organisations and we are now working with them to build the portal.

Improving the quality and access to weather data helps us to better understand and adapt to current and future conditions, ensuring London is a resilient and thriving city. On top of this unlocking and co-ordinating London’s weather data will lead to a variety of economic benefits in terms of stimulating new businesses and enabling efficiencies in existing operations.

Become involved in London’s weather network

Whilst developing the portal, LCCP are gathering support from organisations to make weather data free and accessible to the public.

If you collect weather data of any kind, we would like to hear from you – please email