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	NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HTTP:WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/ER/CAR


	National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Program The Backbone of the Nation's Climate Records More than 11,000 Cooperative Weather Observers across the United States donate more than one million hours each year to collect the weather data that becomes our national climate records. Observers also add to the stream of information that the National Weather Service (NWS) uses to forecast weather, water and climate conditions, issue severe weather and flood warnings, and record the climates of the United States. Learning from the Past to Understand the Future Thanks to this legion of volunteers, America has one of the World's best databases of daily climate records. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists regularly use this data to study trends, and better predict climate conditions in the future. One climate condition of particular interest is the El Niño, a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific that has important consequences for weather and climate around the globe. Thanks in part to America's climate records, NOAA forecasters were able to make early predictions of the strong El Niño conditions that occurred in 1997 - 98. The accurate long-range predictions issued by the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center helped communities prepare for this event and mitigate its efforts. Experts say that in


	BY: NOAA Public Affairs Office


	California, this valuable information may have helped reduce losses by approximately $1 billion. A Rich Tradition and Invaluable Service Cooperative Observers can trace their tradition back to Colonial days. Long before a National Weather Service was established, people with a curiosity to learn more about the weather began to record their observations of the atmosphere and weather phenomena in the vicinity of their settlements. The first known observations in the American Colonies were recorded in 1644 and 1645 by the Reverend John Campanius Holm, a Swedish chaplain in the Swedes Fort Colony near what is now Wilmington, Delaware. Many famous Americans kept detailed daily weather records. We all know the fabled story of Ben Franklin flying his kite in a thunderstorm, but he contributed much more. Franklin was probably the first person to track a hurricane along the Atlantic Coast by using a network of observers. He was Postmaster General in 1743 and was able to get weather reports from postmasters along the coast. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson also kept weather records. Jefferson envisioned a nationwide network of weather observers as early as 1797, when he outlined a plan for providing weather instruments to someone in every county of Virginia, so that a regular statewide record might