Contact: Forrest Mitchell
(405) 360-5928

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONORS
VETERAN WEATHER OBSERVER

NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the Department of Commerce, will present its prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award to veteran weather observer Grover C. Bayless of Arnett, Okla.. A member of the NWS Cooperative Observer Program for 43 years, Bayless will be honored in a ceremony on Thursday, December 13th, during the weekly Kiwanis Club luncheon and meeting in Arnett

The Thomas Jefferson Award was created in 1959 to recognize weather observers for outstanding achievements in the field of meteorological observation. Only five observers out of over one hundred nominees nationwide, receive an award of this stature each year.

Bill Proenza, director of the National Weather Service for the southern U.S., said, "Bayless and the thousands of cooperative observers across the nation give generously of their time and energy because of their interest in weather and dedication to our country. We honor them and thank them for their commitment."

Since Bayless began observing in 1958, he has witnessed some of the worst weather Oklahoma has to offer. As a resident of Arnett, his weather station is located near the springtime dryline which often brings severe weather to the area – including numerous tornado outbreaks and hail storms. Despite the frequency of inclement weather, Bayless has provided nearly 16,000 daily observations for the NWS Forecast Office in Norman. In all that time, he has only missed 32 observations for a completion rate of 99.8 percent.

His observations are often published in the local newspaper. He frequently provides reports on weather conditions for local clubs and routinely conducts tours of his station for students.

Bayless is also a recipient of the National Weather Service's John Campanius Holm Award (1992) which is only given to 25 cooperative observers across the nation annually.

Holm is credited with making the earliest (1644 - 1645) recorded weather observations in the United States. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson followed in his footsteps. Jefferson maintained an almost unbroken record of daily weather observations from 1776 to 1816.

The act of Congress that established the Weather Bureau in 1890 also created the first extensive network of cooperative observation stations. Today, the Cooperative Observer Program has more than 11,000 volunteer observers who record daily temperature and precipitation readings providing researchers and National Weather Service meteorologists with continuous observational data.

Many of the observers also record soil temperature, evaporation, wind movement and agricultural data as well as monitoring river stages and lake levels. The data is invaluable in the study of climate, droughts, floods and heat and cold waves.