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I'm trying to use WeatherData[] to give me (not sure how) the temperature, humidity, wind-speed, cloud cover... at a certain location.

I only want the information for weekdays (e.g. Monday-Friday) for the last 83 years.

How do I make a list of all these dates in a format (DateList or DateString) that WeatherData[] can use?

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    $\begingroup$ Search for DayOfWeek in the documentation. $\endgroup$ – b.gates.you.know.what Jun 12 '12 at 13:28
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For variation, here is method that doesn't require the Calendar package and uses a function which returns days of the week ranging from 0 for Sunday to 6 for Saturday:

GaussDay[y_Integer, m_Integer, d_Integer] := 
 With[{yDigits = IntegerDigits[y - Boole[m < 3]},
  With[{ y1 = FromDigits[yDigits[[1 ;; 2]]], 
    y2 = FromDigits[yDigits[[3 ;; 4]]]}, 
   Mod[(d + Floor[2.6 ( Mod[m + 9, 12] + 1) - 0.2] + y2 + 
      Quotient[y2, 4] + Quotient[y1, 4] - 2 y1), 7]]]

And in play:

Select[WeatherData["Chicago", 
  "Temperature", {{2011, 1, 1}, {2011, 12, 11}}], 
 MemberQ[Range@5, GaussDay @@ #[[1, 1 ;; 3]]] &]

For comparison, this took about 8.5 seconds to select approx 130,000 measurements when asked for 83 years of data.

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  • $\begingroup$ Floor[y2/4] is better expressed as Quotient[y2, 4]. $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ Jun 12 '12 at 15:53
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    $\begingroup$ This is a good solution. As a rule of thumb, never use Mathematica's built-in date functions unless you absolutely have to. By my tests, they are two orders of magnitude slower than Visual Basic's comparable functions, and even farther behind compiled languages. $\endgroup$ – Michael Stern Jun 12 '12 at 15:53
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    $\begingroup$ Also, I prefer Larsen's method myself for day-of-week computations: larsen[{yr_Integer, mo_Integer, da_Integer}] := Module[{y = yr, m = mo, d = da, f, q}, If[m < 3, y--; m += 12]; f = If[y >= 1752 && m >= 9 && d >= 14, Quotient[y, 400] - Quotient[y, 100], 5]; q = d + 2 m + 1 + Quotient[3 (m + 1), 5] + y + Quotient[y, 4] + f; Mod[q, 7] + 1]. No digit twiddling necessary; just integer arithmetic. $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ Jun 12 '12 at 15:59
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. Thank you. $\endgroup$ – image_doctor Jun 12 '12 at 16:00
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    $\begingroup$ If[m < 3, IntegerDigits[y - 1], IntegerDigits[y]] might be better written as IntegerDigits[y - Boole[m < 3]]. $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ Jun 12 '12 at 16:01
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After testing the performance of my first answer, along with J.M.'s suggestion, I don't think it will be fast enough. Here is another approach: filtering after acquisition.

This gives all "Temperature" data for Chicago in 2011, filtering out all Saturdays and Sundays.

Select[
  WeatherData["Chicago", "Temperature", {{2011, 1, 1}, {2011, 12, 31}}],
  ! MatchQ[DateString[#[[1]], "DayName"], "Saturday" | "Sunday"] &
]

If you only want one point for each day, use: {{2011, 1, 1}, {2011, 12, 31}, "Day"}

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    $\begingroup$ No need for the Calendar package. The built-in DateString[{2011, 1, 1}, {"DayName"}] will do (and is slightly faster too). Note that it returns day names as strings instead of symbols. $\endgroup$ – Sjoerd C. de Vries Jun 12 '12 at 21:03
  • $\begingroup$ @Sjoerd thanks! Updated. $\endgroup$ – Mr.Wizard Jun 12 '12 at 21:27
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Load the Calendar package:

Needs["Calendar`"]

Find a Sunday:

DayOfWeek[{1950, 1, 1}] (* Sunday *)

Create a list of offsets from that day for weekdays:

weeks = 10;
offsets = Join @@ Array[Range@5 + 7 # &, weeks, 0];

Generate resolved days from offsets:

weekdays = DaysPlus[{1950, 1, 1}, #]& /@ offsets;

Confirm:

Tally[DayOfWeek /@ weekdays]

{{Monday, 10}, {Tuesday, 10}, {Wednesday, 10}, {Thursday, 10}, {Friday, 10}}
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    $\begingroup$ After which, OP can do something like Outer[WeatherData["Chicago", #1, #2] &, {"Temperature", "Humidity", "WindSpeed", "CloudCoverFraction"}, weekdays, 1]. $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ Jun 12 '12 at 13:43
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. I'll try this, thanks! $\endgroup$ – wizlog Jun 12 '12 at 13:44
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. okay; I was leaving something for the OP to figure out. ;-) $\endgroup$ – Mr.Wizard Jun 12 '12 at 13:44
  • $\begingroup$ @Mr.Wizard I'm sure in the long run I'd appreciate it, but right now... No. (I'm just in a hurry.) $\endgroup$ – wizlog Jun 12 '12 at 13:46
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    $\begingroup$ Wizard: I figured that use of Outer[] is not too well-known among beginners, so I figured it should be pointed out... :) $\endgroup$ – J. M.'s ennui♦ Jun 12 '12 at 13:46

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