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 Clemon G. Clewell of Watonga, Okla. A member of the NWS Cooperative Observer Program for 48 years, Clewell will be honored in a ceremony at the Watonga City Hall on Tuesday, December 11th, during a joint meeting of the Watonga Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club.

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, "Clewell 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."

Clewell began observing during the drought and dust storms of the early ‘50's. Since then, he has observed severe thunderstorms, tornado outbreaks, river flooding, blizzards and record heat. During that time, he has recorded almost 18,000 daily observations (missing only 31) for an outstanding reporting rate of 99.8 percent.

In addition to reporting timely, accurate observations to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, he shares his data with the Watonga Republican newspaper as well as local grain elevators and insurance companies. Clewell also demonstrates his observation equipment and helps visiting schoolchildren learn about the weather.

Clewell is also a recipient of the National Weather Service's John Campanius Holm Award (1989) 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.