A superhuman effort by an army of volunteers during the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown has resulted in 5.2 million rainfall observations, recorded by hand on paper sheets now stored in the Met Office archives, being added to a digital national record. The record now has significantly more data for pre-1960 and has filled in what was a data black hole pre-1862. The work has revealed some record-breaking 19th century weather, which is published in a new paper.