Early instrumental observations are an important tool to understand multidecadal climate variability or put in context specific extreme phenomena. This paper provides early instrumental data recovered in Latin-America and the Caribbean. Data have been retrieved from 20 countries (Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Guiana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France (Martinique and Guadalupe), Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Suriname) and they cover the 18th and 19th centuries. The main meteorological variables retrieved are air temperature, atmospheric pressure and precipitation but other variables, such as humidity, wind direction, or state of the sky have been retrieved when possible. In total, more than 300 000 early instrumental observations have been rescued (96% with daily resolution). Special effort has been done to document all the available metadata (instruments, observers, methodology of observation...) in order to allow further post processing. The compilation is far from being exhaustive but the data set will contribute to a better understanding of the climate variability in the region and to enlarge the overlapping period between instrumental data and natural and documentary proxies.

This dataset provides early instrumental data recovered in Latin-America and the Caribbean. Data have been retrieved from 20 countries (Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Guiana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France (Martinique and Guadalupe), Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Suriname) and they cover the 18th and 19th centuries. The main meteorological variables retrieved are air temperature, atmospheric pressure and precipitation but other variables, such as humidity, wind direction, or state of the sky have been retrieved when possible. In total, more than 300.000 early instrumental observations have been rescued.Comments contain: All the metadata rescued about the observations or the observer. Also provides extreme or rare events recorded by the observer and any other information that could be useful to interpret the series.

Supplement to: Domínguez-Castro, Fernando; Vaquero, José Manuel; Gallego, María Cruz; Farrona, Ana María Marín; Antuña-Marrero, Juan Carlos; Cevallos, Elizabeth; García-Herrera, Ricardo; de la Guía, Cristina; Mejía, Raúl David; Naranjo, José; Prieto, Maria del Rosario; Ramos Guadalupe, Luis Enrique; Seiner, Lizardo; Trigo, Ricardo M; Villacís, Marcos (2017): Early meteorological records from Latin-America and the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries. Scientific Data, 4, 170169