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The Weather Bureau Begins

The Weather Bureau Begins

By NWS Heritage Project Staff

On July 1, 1891, the agency that would evolve into the National Weather Service changed significantly since its founding just 21 years earlier. Originally established as a division within the U.S. Army Signal Service, the nation’s weather service was officially transferred to the Department of Agriculture as a civilian agency and renamed the Weather Bureau.

Weather, water, and climate impacts affect farmers across the nation ... and their businesses. So, it is not at all surprising that, within a few short years of the creation in 1870 of the Signal Service’s Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce, the weather needs of agriculture emerged as a priority. Many states had already developed their own weather services, often with the support and cooperation of the Signal Service and usually to support agricultural needs. Volunteer observers (the predecessor of today’s COOP Observer network) shared their data with state offices, which published monthly summaries. These summaries were then transmitted to the Signal Service for inclusion in the Monthly Weather Review and in the Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer. These early standardized summaries created a consistent record that is still maintained by today’s NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

These services conflicted with the Army’s overall mission; however, due in part to significant upheaval in the weather service in the 1880s, there was a strong push for civilian control. The weather service’s first leader, Chief Signal Officer Gen. Albert Myer, died in 1880. Gen. William B. Hazen took over as Chief Signal Officer until his death in1887 when he was replaced by Major Gen. Aldolphus Greeley. Throughout this period, the service’s reputation suffered mightily from a very public embezzlement case, lackluster reliability when it came to forecasts (then known first as “indications” and then as “predictions”), and indifferent leadership. The Congressionally-chartered Allison Commission investigated many aspects of the military organization with a push toward making it a civilian agency, but nothing changed as a result. These issues came to a head in 1888 when two blizzards arrived “without warning”, killing over a hundred children plus others in the Northern Plains in January 1888, and then in the Northeast where an estimated 400 people were killed in March 1888. 
 
In 1889, former Wisconsin Representative and Governor Jeremiah Rusk became the first Secretary of Agriculture. Rusk, recognizing the value of meteorology to agricultural interests, wanted the Department of Agriculture to take over that responsibility. In December 1889, Senate Bill 1454 was introduced by Senator William Bate of Tennessee. The language of the act was quite clear in its designation that the new Weather Bureau would provide weather and climate guidance for agricultural interests:
“The Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture ... shall be charged with the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers ... the reporting of temperature and rainfall conditions for the cotton states, the display of frost and cold wave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interest of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties.”

The bill establishing the Weather Bureau was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on Oct. 1, 1890. The effective date of the transfer was set at July 1, 1891 to allow the Agriculture Department to obtain separate and necessary appropriations for the new agency.

The new Weather Bureau quickly established Cooperative Observer (COOP) networks across the country, composed of volunteers who gathered daily weather observations including maximum and minimum temperatures and 24-hour precipitation totals. One of the unique ways this data has been used to support agricultural interests was demonstrated by entomologist Andrew Delmar Hopkins. In what has come to be known as Hopkins’ Law, Hopkins demonstrated that there are ideal times to plant crops and other plants to prevent disease and infestation. His research, published in a Monthly Weather Review Supplement in 1918, “intended to show that there is in general a safest and best time for periodical farm and garden practice to guard against or control insect and other enemies and to secure the best returns from the expenditure of money and labor.” The research resulted in the publication of seeding map-calendars such as this one from 1917 for North Carolina.

The information gathered by COOP Observers was tabulated and published by Weather Bureau employees who served as state climatologists across the country and continued until 1974, when the program was terminated for cost reasons. Fortunately, the COOP Observer program continues, but states are left to their own devices to maintain specific state climatologists.

Today, the long-standing climate records are a treasured resource maintained by the National Centers for Environmental Information (www.ncei.noaa.gov). In addition, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center uses the latest temperature and precipitation datasets to prepare weekly, monthly, seasonal, and yearly maps to support USDA’s Joint Agricultural Weather Facility operations. These maps are produced for both domestic and international areas, aiding USDA worldwide crop assessments. 

 

 

 

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6/30/21