diff --git a/mlair/data_handler/data_handler_single_station.py b/mlair/data_handler/data_handler_single_station.py
index cb0a4803b7dd5825c7c3a63622766a02ce40811b..9fdba43cc2b6b3f9ed7a6d97dbd43ec86f03a1f7 100644
--- a/mlair/data_handler/data_handler_single_station.py
+++ b/mlair/data_handler/data_handler_single_station.py
@@ -521,9 +521,29 @@ class DataHandlerSingleStation(AbstractDataHandler):
                 expression
         :param dim_name_of_shift: Dimension along shift will be applied
         """
+        history = self._make_and_return_history_window(dim_name_of_shift, window)
+        self.history = history
+        # self.history = self.shift(data, dim_name_of_shift, window, offset=self.window_history_offset)
+
+    def _make_and_return_history_window(self, dim_name_of_shift, window, data=None):
+        """
+        Create a xr.DataArray containing history data.
+
+        Shift the data window+1 times and return a xarray which has a new dimension 'window' containing the shifted
+        data. This is used to represent history in the data. Results are stored in history attribute.
+
+        :param dim_name_of_inputs: Name of dimension which contains the input variables
+        :param window: number of time steps to look back in history
+                Note: window will be treated as negative value. This should be in agreement with looking back on
+                a time line. Nonetheless positive values are allowed but they are converted to its negative
+                expression
+        :param dim_name_of_shift: Dimension along shift will be applied
+        """
+        if data is None:
+            data = self.input_data
         window = -abs(window)
-        data = self.input_data
-        self.history = self.shift(data, dim_name_of_shift, window, offset=self.window_history_offset)
+        history = self.shift(data, dim_name_of_shift, window, offset=self.window_history_offset)
+        return history
 
     def make_labels(self, dim_name_of_target: str, target_var: str_or_list, dim_name_of_shift: str,
                     window: int) -> None: