Innocent or Guilty: Using Weather Records in Court

The weather can actually help a litigation team to defend or prosecute an offender for a variety of crimes. Often known as forensic meteorology, even small claims courts can have weather introduced as a factor in a court battle. But the use of weather reports is tricky. You cannot just go to a local news station and record a TV segment on the weather. You also cannot look up the weather online and print out the data.

Most uses of the weather in court requires official National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) certification. The NCDC is legally allowed to certify weather records according to an act of congress. This is because the NCDC is an official weather archival facility. That means any records you find at the NCDC can be certified for a fee. There are two basic types of weather record certifications.

1. Official Department of Commerce Certification - You get the DOC Gold Seal with Blue Ribbon Certification (shown on the left.) Most of the time, these records hold up well in big law cases, but the problem can be with the accuracy of the data in the first place. Instrument reliability and observer expertise can be questioned. This is the highest form of certification and is signed by the NCDC Records Custodian and the NCDC Director as the Certifying Officer.
2. General Certification - You get up to 70 pages of weather data. A Certifying Officer signs the form. It is usually acceptable in most court cases.

In a small claims court, unofficial records will usually do, but you have to get them from a reliable source. For example, a friend of mine was once involved in a litigation with a landscape company. The company took over 2 months to do about a week project and the bills were adding up. When he finally fired the company, he was socked with a huge bill. The company claimed the reason the job took so long was because the weather did not allow them to work. They would come and sit on the property and "wait it out" for the rain to stop. Never mind the fact that they were working with bulldozers...A sprinkle of rain was preventing their work. In court, I told my friend to get some unofficial rain reports for the area and told him where to go. It turned out it only rained for about 6 days. He won his case.

• Read the FAQs on courts and the weather.
• Find a local weather station for official or unofficial data products.
• Order certified weather products online here and get complete directions for the exact products available.
• View a video on how weather records can help you in court.
• Weather detectives is an Accuweather presentation on how forensic meteorology can help you win a court case.
• You can also do a search online for forensic weather to find experts for testimony.