By act of Congress on February 9, 1870 (the "Organic Act"),
the Secretary of War was authorized and required "to provide for taking
meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent
and at other points in the States and Territories of the United States, and for
giving notice on the northern lakes and on the seacoast, by magnetic telegraph
and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms".
Weather observations from Grand Junction began shortly after the city was first
established in the early 1880s. Old records indicate that sporadic observations
were recorded from April, 1884 through April, 1888. Exact locations are
uncertain, but they were generally taken at the homes or offices of either Frank
MacClintock or L.F. Ingersoll. Subsequently, no observations have been found
from the late 1880s and early 1890s.
In March, 1892, a cooperative observation program was established with Dr.
S.M. Bradbury as the first observer. These weather observations were taken
from his office on the upstairs floor at 520 Main Street and continued through
December, 1898.
In October, 1898, Oscar D. Stewart was appointed as the first Weather
Bureau employee in the Grand Valley. His mission was to establish
and manage an official U.S. Weather Bureau office. This office, at the
corner of 4th and Main, began on January 1, 1899.
Following Mr. Stewart, who was Official-in-Charge (OIC) until
November, 1902, came Richard H. Sullivan (January, 1903 -
September, 1905), R.M. Hardinge (September, 1905 - March,
1907), L.J. Guthrie (March, 1907 - April, 1908), and again R.M.
Hardinge (April, 1908 - February, 1911).
In February, 1911, E.S. Nichols took over as OIC. During this period,
many changes took place, including the development of a fruit frost
forecast program. Also, the office moved twice; first to the corner of
5th and Main on January 31, 1914, and then to the post office building
on 4th and Rood on March 15, 1918. The post office was to house the
Weather Bureau for the next 28 years.
Mr. Nichols left in August, 1920. OICs during the next 2 decades include
A.M. Hamrick (November, 1920 - July, 1921) and Ernest L. Felton
(July, 1921 - October, 1941). A big program change occurred during
Mr. Felton's long tenure with the advent of pibal observations in the
summer of 1938. Charles Howard ran the office during the turbulent
and hectic war years from October, 1941 through June, 1946. One big
event was the move of the office from downtown Grand Junction,
where it had always been, out to the Grand Junction Municipal Airport
(later renamed Walker Field Airport) 5.5 miles north of the city. This
occurred on March 16, 1946.
Upper air soundings (RAOBS) were also started during this
period. The U.S. Army began this in May, 1944, and the
Weather Bureau took over on October 1, 1944. This created
some difficulty, as the upper air program was conducted at the
airport while the Weather Bureau office was downtown for
several months before the office move.
July 1, 1946, saw the beginning of the longest tour of duty by any OIC
at Grand Junction. Keith Kerr was the Grand Valley's chief
weatherman from that date until retiring from the government 26
years later in June, 1972. The early 1970's was also a time of great
change for the Weather Bureau as a whole. The organization was
renamed the National Weather Service, and placed under a new entity
called NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Mr. Kerr was followed by Tom MacKenzie (August, 1972 - June, 1978)
and Derry Newby (July, 1978 - August, 1989). During Mr. Newby's
era, the office made a "temporary" move to the top floor of the Rocky
Mountain HMO building on Crossroads Blvd. The temporary move
lasted until the office moved back onto the airport into specially built
facilities in June, 1995 (current location).
Brenda Brock was the first Meteorologist-in-Charge (MIC) of the now
National Weather Service (NWS) Office. She remained from November,
1989 to December, 1990. Ms. Brock was followed by Douglas Crowley
(January, 1991 - April, 1993) and Robert W. Jacobson Jr. (November, 1993
- May, 2000).
Douglas Crowley
returned to Grand Junction in October 2000 and is the current
Meteorologist-in-Charge.
The 1990's saw the implementation of a national NWS modernization program.
In Grand Junction, this began in earnest in the fall of 1994 with the hiring of
an administrative assistant. Modernization continued through the fall of 1995
with the addition of 5 weather forecasters. In April 1996, human observations,
which had been done since the office's beginning, were replaced by an
Automated Surface Observing System (
ASOS
). In June, 1996, a
WSR-88D Doppler Weather Radar
located on top of the Grand Mesa, the first dedicated weather radar on the
west slope of Colorado, was commissioned.
The Grand Junction NWS Office now consists of a
staff
of 25 meteorologists and support personnel who serve the people of
western Colorado and eastern Utah.
