Whether you are packing for a trip or just wondering whether you will need an umbrella to get to work the next day, most of us care a lot about what the weather forecasters are saying is in store for us. While the accuracy of their forecasts has certainly improved over the years, there’s no guarantee we will get the weather they tell us. Nonetheless, there is still satisfaction in feeling “prepared.”
Though today we are likely to check with Google or Alexa as to what weather to expect, there was a time when you could call a phone number for everything from the weather to highway conditions to the exact time.
But where do television and internet forecasters get their weather information? From the U.S. Weather Service. Here’s how it began “How the U.S. Weather Service Began.“
To read a dramatic story about how a turn in the weather affected people in the Midwest in the 19th century, read “Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888.”