The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data.
In 2015, the NCDC merged with two other federal environmental records agencies to become the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
History
In 1934, the U.S. government established a tabulation unit in New Orleans, Louisiana, to process weather records. Climate records and upper air observations were punched onto cards in 1936. This organization was transferred to Asheville, North Carolina, in 1951, where the National Weather Records Center (NWRC). It was housed in the Grove Arcade Building in Asheville, North Carolina.
Processing of the climate data was accomplished at Weather Records Processing Centers at Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; and San Francisco, California, until January 1, 1963, when it was consolidated with the NWRC.
In 1967, the agency was renamed the National Climatic Data Center.
In 1995, the NCDC moved into the newly completed Veach-Baley Federal Complex in downtown Asheville.
In 2015, the NCDC merged with the National Geophysical Data Center and the National Oceanographic Data Center to become the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).