June 18, 2007

Nevada's Online State News Journal

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[From The History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, vol. I (1913), pp. 700-706]

Nevada History:

700      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

CHAPTER XXXII.

METEOROLOGICAL WORK.

BY H. S. COLE.

The Signal Corps of the United States Army took meteorological observations and made weather reports and weather forecasts from 187o to 189o. This work was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1891, and the Weather Bureau was organized to take charge of it.

The first Signal Station for meteorological observations in Nevada was established by Corporal John Healey, of the Signal Service, at Winnemucca. He began the work of establishing a station June 12, 1887, and was ready to begin taking observations by July 15th of the same year. A continuous record, with the exception of a few short intervals, has been kept at this station to the present time, a period of thirty-five years.

This record covers the longest period of any government record in the State, although precipitation records were kept by the Central Pacific Railroad agents, and their successors, the Southern Pacific agents, at Battle Mountain, Beowawe, Browns, Elko, Humboldt and Reno, extending back to 1870. The temperature records at Reno extend back to the same date, but at the other five stations the temperature record only extends back to 1878. Very careful and complete records, kept by Mr. Charles W. Friend, at Carson City, extend back to 1875. The above mentioned are the oldest meteorological records in the State.

The Nevada State Weather Service was extended in February, 1887, and Mr. C. W. Friend was appointed director. He erected an observatory at Carson City and furnished all meteorological instruments at his own expense.

The purposes of the State Weather Service, as set forth by Mr. Friend, were, "To collect a fund of knowledge, as complete as possible, of the climatic features of every portion of the State, from which reliable data can be furnished to actual and prospective settlers; to incite an

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interest in our people in the study of our climate and to aid in making possible a practical application of the knowledge thus acquired; to assist in developing our agricultural interests by discussion of problems of irrigation, storage of water, economy of water supply and adaptation of soils and climate to specific crops, and, by cooperation with the Signal Service, to secure to our people the benefits of the indications (forecasts) of that service."

The above was written in 1888, and it is gratifying to note how fully these ends are being realized. Director Friend lived to see the attainment of nearly all of them, and the attainments of the past few years are exceeding his most sanguine hopes. He spent the greater portion of the year of 1887 in securing the instruments and making the necessary plans and preparations for the work.

Sergeant Charles A. Read was detailed by the Signal Service to assist Director Friend, and arrived in Carson City, August 2, 1887. By October 1 they had fourteen stations equipped and observations were begun.

Great difficulty was experienced in obtaining observers in all portions of the State, and a law was passed making it one of the duties of the county auditors to take observations and render reports at the end of the month. Even with this assistance, Director Friend became greatly discouraged. He saw how great were the difficulties before him. The State was sparsely settled and the people were constantly moving. The apparently simple processes of reading thermometers, measuring rainfall, and keeping a record without any contradictory statements on the form, requires considerable care. The reports for the first month showed so many inaccuracies that no use could be made of them. As these reports were not used, interest lagged and some criticisms were offered.

Director Friend and Sergeant Read continued the work of instructing the observers and establishing new stations, and by February, 1888, they received fairly accurate reports from thirty-seven stations. From these were prepared the data for the first report of the Nevada State Weather Service.

In the meantime Sergeant Read, in addition to his work with Director

Friend, established a Signal Service Station in the State Printing Building in Carson City, and began taking observations, December 1, 1887.

This office was maintained by the Signal Service until the Weather Bureau was established, and was continued by that bureau until Novem-

702      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

ber 11, 1905, when it was moved to Reno by Section Director H. F. Alps. The office has remained in Reno to the present time and now occupies rooms in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows' Building, at the corner of Center and Second streets.

A third station was established in the State at Tonopah, in 1906, where a continuous record has been kept from that date to the present time.

Sergeant Read, in addition to taking observations and making reports for the Signal Service, assisted Director Friend in the State Weather Service work, and some of the old reports show that Mr. Friend gave him a great deal of credit for his careful, conscientious work. The State Weather Service and the Signal Service, and later the State Weather Service and the Weather Bureau, seem to have worked together from the beginning to the time of Director Friend's death without the least discord. The correspondence of both offices, now on file at the local office of the Weather Bureau, in Reno, does not show any jealousy or friction.

By the year 1896 the work of preparing the forms and overseeing the observers at the sub-stations had nearly all been turned over to the Weather Bureau. The State continued to furnish the equipment for the sub-stations until 1899, when that also was turned over to the Weather Bureau, and it continued printing the monthly weather reports until the bureau discontinued them in all the States, in June, 1909.

Director Friend received a salary from the State for his services, and his name was printed on the monthly weather reports until his death, January 10, 1997, a period of twenty years, showing in what high esteem his services were held by the State and by the Weather Bureau. He was the pioneer in State Weather Service work west of the Rockies, and was so recognized by the Weather Bureau, by the Association of Weather Services, and by such scientists as J. P. Findlay, of the Army, and C. H. Sinclair, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the two latter being his warm personal friends.

The work of recording and compiling data has gone on now for twenty-four years, and at a few stations for over forty-two years, without cessation. At a large number of the sub-stations the record is continuous, the railroads insisting that their agents take observations at certain stations. Some of the sub-stations have been closed and others established, and in this way there are, at present, over one hundred and twenty places

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in the State where records have been kept, some for long periods, others for a short time only. Information concerning climatic conditions of any portion of the State may be obtained, free of charge, by applying to the Local Office, Weather Bureau, Reno, Nevada. If there has been a station in the exact locality for which information is desired, data may be obtained from a station near by.

The Water Resources Service of the Weather Bureau was organized in 1908 for the purpose of making careful observations of snow and rainfall at high altitudes. Snow surveys are made each year in order to obtain accurate information regarding the amount of snow in the mountains, and the water content of the same. These measurements are used in estimating the amount of water available for irrigation during the next summer, and the probably time of run-off. The Forest Service, the Water Resources Branch of the Geological Survey, the Indian Service, the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Reclamation Service are intimately associated with the Weather Bureau in this work.

Professors J. E. Church and S. P. Ferguson, of the University of Nevada, are making quite extensive investigations on Mt. Rose and in the Truckee Meadows along meteorological lines, especially on frost temperatures. They are also investigating snowfall and water supply for irrigation in the Truckee Drainage Basin.

The forecasts are used to quite an extent, especially by the railroads, stock men, handlers of perishable goods, and fruit and truck farmers.

This article would not be quite complete without the following climatological tables, which were compiled by the Weather Bureau for the Nevada Section. These averages are from records of from ten to forty years.

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLES  [click on image to enlarge].