A family that started keeping weather records before the U.S. weather bureau was even established was on hand Monday in Sioux Falls for a national award.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A family that started keeping weather records before the U.S. weather bureau was even established was on hand Monday in Sioux Falls for a national award.
More than 25 members of the Judy family gathered for the ceremony. Morris Judy began keeping track of the weather on Jan. 1, 1890, at Forestburg. The high was 8 degrees above zero that day, he reported.
His granddaughter-in-law, Marion Judy, 86, now keeps up the tradition.
She received the National Weather Service's Heritage Award for her family's service.
The Judy family is one of only 11 in the nation out of the NWS' 11,000 observers to record the weather for more than a century at the same location.
Marion Judy's father, Sherman, set the family record with 62 years of observations, starting in 1909.
The only break occurred for a few days during last November's ice storm, when Marion Judy's house lost power.
She calls the NWS with highs, lows and precipitation every day. When it snows, Judy also has to melt the snow to measure its water content.
Judy stood among NWS computers and radar screens and said she is glad her thermometers and measuring sticks remain part of the mix.
"I realize that whether you're getting your children ready for school or launching the space shuttle, the weather plays a part in that," she said.
Judy said she's not sure if anyone will carry on the tradition once she can't do it anymore. The weather service only allows a weather station to be moved five miles from its original spot and still be considered the same location.
Local measurements are important for long-term climate prediction, said Lynn Maximuk, director of the NWS Central Region in Kansas City, Mo.
"A lot of things that happen in the big picture of climate change start at a very small scale. So we need to capture that," Maximuk said, especially in rural areas with fewer observing stations.
Source: Associated Press
Contact Info:
