I think historical data isn’t necessarily applied to forecasting the weather. For example, my first thought with this data is to comb through and build a model where when X conditions exist, then Y airport delays are likely. The FAA doesn’t give the data for their end of the model though.
If yesterday, the weather was clear skies, and the temperature followed a given curve, then today if the weather was clear skies, the temperature is going to follow a very similar curve. Same rough curve if it was clear skies a year ago. The exact values might be a bit different, but the high for the day will probably be about the same amount over the sunrise temp for all 3 of these scenarios. Throw in wind direction, and you could be more accurate with this.
This is why the 14th Weather Squadron creates Wind Stratified Conditional Climotology tables. Past performance is indicative of future results, especially when you're not under the influence of a frontal system.
