Weather observations are taken around the world day and night in different formats using different reporting procedures. These data are collected, quality-controlled, and archived at the US Air Force Environmental Technical Applications Center in a common format (DATSAV2). Meteorologists are then able to use these data for climatological analysis to answer questions that are important to many disciplines, including building design and energy use. The process of recording and archiving weather data is discussed. Statistics are presented about the different reporting formats and procedures and the availability of weather data that give the "demographics" of worldwide weather data.

KEYWORDS: year 1995, weather, data, designing, buildings, energy consumption, meteorology, international, climatology, analysis, statistics, databases