Episode 1 of 2
Establishment of Weather Service
- When
- 9 February 1870
- Where
- Congress
Congress established the first official US weather service in February 1870, placing it under the War Department to ensure accurate storm notifications.
On February 9, 1870, a joint resolution signed by President Grant created the first official weather service. The agency was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Service under Chief Signal Officer Albert J. Myer. Congress believed military discipline would ensure the greatest promptness and accuracy in meteorological observations and storm warnings.
Sources
- National Weather Service Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-09
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.