Watching the weather comes naturally to Dan Bush. He'd be doing it anyway on his family farm where he raises corn, beans and sheep. But the
National Weather Service's Cooperative Observer Program makes his daily observations official.
His duties for the NWS require him to daily record the high, low and present air temperature; high and low soil temperature at 4 inches under bare ground and 4 inches under sod; high, low and present humidity; and all precipitation. If snow accumulates, he records the depth and melts a sample of snow to get a more accurate precipitation reading.
The commitment is logical to Bush. "If you don't get any rain, you don't get any crops," he says, so he does his part to advance understanding of the climate.
Bush once served as a backup observer for his father's NWS weather station in Perrysville, Ind., near the Illinois line. When his dad passed away, Bush took on the job full-time. He has since earned his 25-year service award.
The NWS Cooperative Observer Program dates back more than a century. It was developed in 1890 to provide data to help "define the climate of the United States and help measure long-term climate change," according to the NWS web site. The information also is used when determining forecasts and weather warnings.
When the program began, it made sense to recruit people who already paid close attention to rainfall and temperatures: ranchers and farmers.
The program now boasts about 11,700 volunteers and still is open to more, says Greg Romano, director of public affairs at the agency's headquarters in Silver Springs, Md. It's not clear what percentage of those volunteers work in agriculture. But from the very beginning, farmers and ranchers were among the first to sign up.
Michael Overturf has won one of the highest honors for Cooperative Observer Program volunteers—the John Campanius Holm award. Named for the first person known to take systematic weather observations in America, it is given to volunteers for outstanding achievement. No more than 25 are awarded each year.
Overturf didn't begin weather observations on his farm. He has worked at the USDA's meat animal research center at the University of Nebraska for 40 years, and took over responsibility for the center's weather station 30 years ago.
When the NWS wanted a station closer to his home, Overturf volunteered. He isn't required to record all the details Bush handles; he records mostly precipitation and adverse weather conditions. Overturf also heads the center's storm spotter team, reports storms directly to the NWS from home and works with the Clay County, Neb., emergency management agency during severe weather.
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Chasing the wind
Rural weather watchers are also an important piece of the Skywarn program sponsored by NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While Cooperative Observer Program volunteers record data for historical perspective, Skywarn spotters' responsibilities are quite a bit more immediate.
"Skywarn spotters are the eyes and ears for us," says Mark Frazier of the NWS office in Shreveport, La. "They can confirm or deny what we see on the radar." Radar shows what's going on in the air, but only human witnesses can say what's happening on the ground.
Rural route
"Somebody is always first" to find out about a storm, says Mildred Lundsdrud, a volunteer storm spotter trainer in St. Cloud, Minn. "And somebody's going to be last."
The last are often people in rural areas without Doppler radar coverage, who may be monitoring the storm on a television station focused on the more densely populated urban centers.
But Lundsdrud, who has been with the Skywarn program for 38 years, believes farmers are a good choice for weather monitoring. "They're much more alert and aware of weather than city people," she explains, because it is such an important part of their lives.
Joe Reilly has watched through his window as a funnel cloud formed over a cattle ranch in central Florida. The trained weather watcher had a digital camera nearby. He snapped a picture and sent the image and data from his personal weather station to NOAA.
Their response: "Yes, it looks like an F-0 tornado, but no, we're not going to issue a warning." Why? It's not too severe, and "nobody lives out that way."
The lack of action is frustrating, Reilly says, but it's something he's become accustomed to as a rural weather watcher.
Reilly first took NOAA-sponsored storm spotter classes in 1998. An avid storm chaser, he and his brother would hear of a storm warning and head out with their weather equipment and radios to verify if the action on the ground matched what the radar showed.
With nothing but acres and acres of pasture surrounding him, "I have a great view. People in rural areas are in danger, but sometimes nobody's telling them," Reilly says.
Thrill of the chase
When it comes to storms, most people run away from them, not toward them. But with proper training, Skywarn volunteers pursue the storms in relative safety.
M.L. Cline, a retired Kentucky state trooper, recalls being sent to verify funnel clouds on the job. "Several times, I would be driving toward a funnel cloud and I'd think, 'This is nuts.'" He has more training now through the NWS Skywarn program than he did as a state trooper.
Kevin O'Dell, a Skywarn volunteer in Ardmore, Okla., stresses safety when following storms.
He and his fellow spotters have radios equipped with a type of global positioning system, allowing someone at the radar to know where the spotters are, what they may or may not be seeing and when they need to get the heck out of Dodge.
O'Dell recalls one occasion when a friend following a storm was told to begin moving south. He got in the car and began driving away when he got another message: "Go south faster." Minutes later, golf ball-sized hail was pounding the pavement he left behind.
"They're all fascinating and they're all interesting," he says of nature's tantrums. "And they're all potentially deadly."
The NWS needs more Skywarn volunteers, but O'Dell cautions that people need to examine their motives. "Make sure you're not just doing it for the glory," he says. "We don't need people out there who just think it's cool to do."
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