Harry Cohen, age 11, of Rome, N.Y., for his question:
WHEN WAS THE WEATHER BUREAU STARTED?
Weather forecasts, observations and records of the weather in the United States and its territories are provided by the National Weather Service. The service sends out warnings of storms including hurricanes and tornadoes and also measures rainfall.
The public weather service of the United States started in 1870 as part of the Army Signal Corps. In 1890, Congress organized the Weather Bureau under the Department of Agriculture.
In 1940, the president transferred the bureau to the Department of Commerce and then in 1965, Congress made the Weather Bureau part of the Environmental Science Service Administration, a branch of the Department of Commerce.
The weather bureau was renamed the National Weather Service in 1970 when it became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in addition to forecasting storms and keeping rainfall figures, the National Weather Service also measures river levels to forecast navigation, flood and water supply conditions. It also supplies special weather information to farmers and airplane pilots. In addition, the service also keeps records of the climate of the United States and other countries and studies ways to improve weather forecasting.
There are about 300 weather stations in the Unites States and its possessions that have full time staffs. The service has a central office in Washington, D.C., and regional offices in New York City, Kansas City, Mo., Fort Worth, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Anchorage, Alaska.
In addition to the 300 regular stations, the service also has more than 12,000 substations that gather information on weather. About 3,500 of these substations send reports of current weather to the main offices by telephone or telegraph.
A number of federal agencies work with the National Weather Service. The Coast Guard, as an example, gathers weather information from merchant ships. And the Federal Aviation Administration helps the service gather weather information at airport stations and supplies weather reports to pilots.
The Weather Service cooperates with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the operation and use of weather satellites. The satellites circle the earth and send pictures of clouds to ground receiving stations.
Satellites make it possible to gather weather information in distant lands and seas.
Weather reports go into the Weather Service's National Meteorological Center near Washington, D.C. There, the Analysis and Forecast, Computation and Extended Forecast branches analyze the reports. They make forecasts with the aid of high speed computers and distribute them to local offices.
The Weather Service also exchanges reports with other nations. The reports are also made available to the public by means of newspapers, radio, telegraph, telephone and television.