The Weather Almanac: A Reference Guide to Weather, Climate, and Related Issues in the United States and Its Key Cities (Weather Almanac, 10th ed)

Rating:
Summary: somewhat disappointing
Review: this was the first weather almanac i bought since 1978. while the stats are indeed current (up to year 1999) the historical data for most U.S. cities is not reflective of the past, and seems to only track data recorded with a station's new weather equipment, circa 1990s... also, the book itself is largely copied grids from earlier versions of the almanac, difficult to read in some cases. wind data in most cities is not reflected in historical trends.
USA today puts out a graphically pleasing almanac, but the data in their book too is not of super value to the true climatologist. with the vast number of reporting data available today, i would expect a book such as this to include many more cities, and address microclimates. the web itself offers better statistical data than this book; although keeping track of that data ourselves can be cumbersome.