NOUS42 KCHS 041904 PNSCHS GAZ087-088-099>101-114>119-137>141-SCZ040-042>045-047>052-050600- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 304 PM EDT WED JUL 4 2012 ...INDEPENDENCE DAY CLIMATOLOGY FOR THE LOCAL AREA... THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME CLIMATOLOGICAL STATISTICS FOR JULY 4TH... CHARLESTON AIRPORT... HIGHEST TEMPERATURE...98 SET IN 1993 LOWEST TEMPERATURE...61 SET IN 1933 LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE...77 SET IN 1940 HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE...78 SET IN 1960 RECORD RAINFALL...3.26 INCHES SET IN 1983 DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON... HIGHEST TEMPERATURE...98 SET IN 1902 LOWEST TEMPERATURE...61 SET IN 1933 LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE...75 SET IN 1933 HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE...83 SET IN 1998 RECORD RAINFALL...2.24 INCHES SET IN 1914 SAVANNAH AIRPORT... HIGHEST TEMPERATURE...99 SET IN 1997 AND PREVIOUS YEARS LOWEST TEMPERATURE...61 SET IN 1933 LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE...75 IN 1907 HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE...74 SET IN 1931 RECORD RAINFALL...2.09 INCHES SET IN 1907 && ...EARLY WEATHER PIONEERS IN THE UNITED STATES... GEORGE WASHINGTON...CONSIDERED TO BE THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WASHINGTON WAS A SERIOUS WEATHER OBSERVER...AND TOOK HIS LAST WEATHER OBSERVATION JUST A FEW DAYS BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY. HE COMMEMORATED THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR BY COMMISSIONING A DOVE OF PEACE WEATHER VANE FOR HIS ESTATE IN MOUNT VERNON. THE WEATHER VANE HAS SURVIVED THE ELEMENTS OF WEATHER AND IS STILL THERE TODAY. EVEN DURING SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN WASHINGTONS LIFE...THE WEATHER WAS ON HIS MIND. IN MARCH OF 1797...WHEN HE LEFT PHILADELPHIA FOR THE LAST TIME AND WISHED TO RETURN TO MOUNT VERNON...HE WROTE IN HIS DIARY THAT THE WIND CHANGED TO THE NO. WT. /NORTHWEST/ AND BLEW VERY HARD AND TURNED COLD. THOMAS JEFFERSON...THE THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CONSIDERED TO BE A SYSTEMATIC WEATHER OBSERVER. EVEN BEFORE 1776...HE WAS CONSOLIDATING INFORMATION ON WEATHER IN VIRGINIA AND MAKING HIS OWN WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AT WILLIAMSBURG AND MONTICELLO. FOR OVER 50 YEARS JEFFERSON TOOK WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTED WITH HYGROMETERS...WHICH ARE USED TO DETERMINE RELATIVE HUMIDITY. HE ALSO WORKED EXTENSIVELY ON THE COLLECTION OF CLIMATE DATA AND MADE SURE THAT THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION DID THE SAME. JEFFERSON ALSO COMPILED A FIVE YEAR STUDY ON THE COMPARISON OF WEATHER CONDITIONS IN PARIS WITH THOSE IN VIRGINIA. THE PRACTICES OF JEFFERSON AND THOSE OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...WHO CONSIDER HIM TO BE THE FATHER OF WEATHER OBSERVERS...ARE BASICALLY THE SAME EVEN TODAY. IN FACT...JEFFERSON ENVISIONED A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF WEATHER OBSERVERS AS EARLY AS 1797...WHEN HE OUTLINED A PLAN PROVIDING WEATHER INSTRUMENTS TO SOMEONE IN EVERY COUNTY OF VIRGINIA. HIS PLAN BECAME REALIZED IN 1891...WHEN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURES NEW CIVILIAN WEATHER BUREAU WAS ESTABLISHED. THOMAS JEFFERSON...ONE OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE...PASSED AWAY ON JULY 4 1826. THIS FACT IS ALL THE MORE FASCINATING GIVEN THAT JOHN ADAMS...ANOTHER SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION AND OUR SECOND PRESIDENT...ALSO DIED ON THE SAME DAY ONLY A FEW HOURS AFTER THOMAS JEFFERSON. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN...ONE OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. HE WAS THE FIRST TO OBSERVE THAT STORMS MOVE IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION THAN THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND. HE ACCURATELY THEORIZED ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE...AND HE PROPOSED ONE OF THE FIRST CORRECT EXPLANATIONS FOR THE MOVEMENT OF STORMS IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE. FRANKLIN IS THE FIRST SCIENTIST TO STUDY AND MAP THE GULF STREAM...AND HE IS THE INVENTOR OF THE LIGHTNING ROD. HIS PUBLICATION CALLED POOR RICHARDS ALMANACK CONTAINED WEATHER FORECASTS FOR THE ORIGINAL COLONIES. JAMES MADISON...THE FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS CONSIDERED TO BE VIRGINIAS EARLIEST WEATHERMAN. FROM 1784 TO 1802 HE COMPILED OVER 16000 WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AT MONTPELIER. IN 2003...RESEARCHERS USED THOSE OBSERVATIONS TO DETERMINE THAT SPRING RAINS HAD COME A MONTH EARLIER...IN MAY RATHER THAN IN JUNE...DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA. ACCORDING TO ONE OF THE RESEARCHERS...THE WEATHER RECORDS OF MADISON AND ALSO THOSE OF JEFFERSON...MET THE HIGHEST SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS OF THE TIME. JOHN LINING...AN EARLY WEATHER PIONEER WHOSE HOME IS STILL ON THE CORNER OF KING AND BROAD STREETS IN DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON. HE BEGAN TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT CHARLESTON USING A FAHRENHEIT THERMOMETER IN 1730. HE RECORDED THE FIRST PROLONGED INSTRUMENTAL WEATHER OBSERVATIONS...IN WHAT WOULD LATER BECOME OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...IN CHARLESTON IN THE YEAR 1738. SOME OF HIS RESEARCH INVOLVED ATTEMPTING TO FIND A LINK BETWEEN DISEASE AND THE WEATHER...AND HE PROMOTED THE USE OF LIGHTNING RODS FOR PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS DURING THUNDERSTORMS. THE ABOVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE EARLY WEATHER PIONEERS WAS OBTAINED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES...BOTH ON LINE AND IN BOOK FORM. YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON WISHES EVERYONE A SAFE AND HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. $$ 33