The economic impact of weather anomalies

•This paper presents a unique dataset that brings together data from meteorological sources on weather anomalies and night light emissions in 0.5 by 0.5-degree grid cells for the entire globe for the period 1992-2013.•This dataset allows researchers to investigate the economic impact of weather anomalies at an unprecedented geographical resolution.•We find that storms, excessive precipitation and cold spells indeed reduce the growth of economic activity visibly in the emission of night light at the local level.•We also show these negative effects do not tend to last long and generally cause positive spillovers in neighboring areas.