Cloudy with a chance of records

Denver, Colorado, December 20, 2006 (311-MAD-27666)

Weather has been front-page news across the country for the last couple of weeks. Winter storms have left up to 50 inches of snow in places, and even in Dallas, TX, snow and ice made the Packers and Steelers feel right at home at the Super Bowl.

What’s the outlook for sunshine, snow, or rain in the future? The groundhog may have predicted an early spring, but for a more scientific forecast, we have the National Weather Service, whose birthday is today.

On February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing “meteorological Observations at the military Stations and other Points in the Interior of the Continent, and for giving Notice on the northern Lakes and Seaboard of the Approach and Force of Storms.”

In the National Archives you can find weather-related records in Records of the Weather Bureau (Record Group 27) and Records of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Record Group 370).

So, Happy Birthday, Weather Service! Here’s hoping you can give us all good news soon.

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