An early weather diary from Iberia (Lisbon, 1631–1632)

Documentary sources are a useful tool to\udanalyse climate in the pre-instrumental era,\udespecially in places with a long writing tradition\ud(see Jones et al. (2009) and Brázdil et al.\ud(2005; 2010) for review articles). They include\uda wide typology, from any piece of paper\udto paintings or markers. These sources provide\uda great range of information, including\uddirect evidence (descriptions of weather or\udextreme events) and climate proxies (dates of\udcrop collections, blooming, rogation ceremonies,\udicebreaking etc). Among them, weather\uddiaries provide first-hand information in a\udsequential and mostly continuous way, with\udprecise dating reaching, sometimes, subdaily\udresolution. Their time coverage ranges from\udmonths (e.g. Carlo de Zinzendorf weather\uddiary at Trieste, from June 1776 to June 1777;\udsee Pagnini, 1978) to almost a lifetime (e.g.\udHaller Wolfagang diary from Zurich, from\ud1545 to 1576; see Flohn, 1949). Sometimes\udlonger weather diaries can be found when\udthey are supported by an institution and\udcompiled by many authors, such as the\udPremonstratensian Abbey diary at Hradisko\udthat covers the period 1693–1783 (Brázdil\udet al., 2008). However, in this case the climate\udperception can vary depending on\udthe author and this can lead to homogeneity\udproblems.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España) - Proyecto AYA2008-04864/AYA.Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (project KlimHist PTDC/AAC-LI/119078/2010)Peer reviewe