PRACTICAL WEATHER GUIDE
How to check recent rain, cold and wind
Coming home after a few days away? Check yesterday’s weather or an earlier date to see what a nearby station reported before you inspect a garden, property or worksite.
Enter a U.S. ZIP code or city, then explore separate recent dates.
Rain & gardens
Check reported rain before you inspect a garden or landscape. A missing total does not mean zero rain, and station observations cannot tell you the soil moisture at your property.
How to use the rain observations
Reported periods may overlap, so YesterSky keeps them separate instead of inventing a property total. A rain report marks an observation time; it does not prove continuous rainfall.
Use the result to guide an on-site check, not to prescribe watering. Alabama Cooperative Extension recommends combining a rain gauge, plant observations and soil-moisture evaluation, while the EPA explains how irrigation decisions combine weather data with landscape conditions.
Cold nights
The displayed low and high are sampled station readings, not official daily extremes. They can flag nearby cold worth checking, but cannot establish frost, frozen pipes or damage at a property.
Checking an overnight cold period
A night often crosses two calendar dates. Review each date separately, note gaps in the observations, and rely on on-site signs or a local sensor when the exact property matters.
Wind & outdoor work
Reported wind and decoded gusts can add context before you inspect trees, fencing, roofing or loose materials. They do not prove the wind speed or timing of damage at a worksite.
Saving wind context for later
Save the result link with its station, distance and date, and describe it as a nearby station report—not a property measurement or certified record. Stronger peak-wind remarks remain visible without being recast as decoded gusts.
About the observations
How far back can I look?
YesterSky focuses on recent weather. You can explore approximately the past 30 days; older observations may no longer be available.
What if a rainfall total isn’t available?
Weather stations sometimes report rain in overlapping periods, so adding those numbers together can give the wrong total. When YesterSky can’t establish a reliable daily amount, we show the available observations instead of guessing.
How far away is the station?
The result names the station and its straight-line distance from the selected locality reference point. Rain, cold and wind can vary over short distances, so compare this nearby evidence with what you find on site.
Want the technical details?
Read how YesterSky handles stations, rainfall and recent-weather records. Observations come from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center’s METAR service; forecasts and modeled values do not fill gaps.
Look up a ZIP code or city without an account or location permission.