and as a notation - the history of what you see today for NOAA and the NWS and "official national record-keeping" actually goes back to a function under what was the Department of War (before the name change) and the Signal Officers.
History of the National Weather Service
(snip)
1849: Smithsonian Institution supplies weather instruments to telegraph companies and establishes extensive observation network. Observations submitted by telegraph to the Smithsonian, where weather maps are created.
By the end of 1849, 150 volunteers throughout the United States were reporting weather observations to the Smithsonian regularly. By 1860, 500 stations were furnishing daily telegraphic weather reports to the Washington Evening Star, and as the network grew, other existing systems were gradually absorbed, including several state weather services.
1860: 500 stations are making regular observations, but work is interrupted by the Civil War.
1869: Telegraph service, instituted in Cincinnati, began collecting weather data and producing weather charts.
The ability to observe and display simultaneously observed weather data, through the use of the telegraph, quickly led to initial efforts toward the next logical advancement, the forecasting of weather. However, the ability to observe and forecast weather over much of the country, required considerable structure and organization, which could be provided through a government agency.
1870: A Joint Congressional Resolution requiring the Secretary of War "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...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" was introduced. Congress passed the resolution and on February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law. A new national weather service had been born within the U.S. Army Signal Service’s Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce that would affect the daily lives of most of the citizens of the United States through its forecasts and warnings for years to come.
1870-1880: Gen. Albert J. Myer serves as chief signal officer, directing the new weather service.
1880: Upon the death of Gen. Myer, Gen. William Babcock Hazen takes over as chief signal officer. He serves until his death in 1887.
1887: Upon the death of Gen. Hazen, Maj. Gen. Adolphus Greely takes over as chief signal officer. He serves until his death in 1891.
May 30, 1889: An earthen dam breaks near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The flood kills 2,209 people and wrecks 1,880 homes and businesses.
October 1, 1890: The weather service is first identified as a civilian agency when Congress, at the request of President Benjamin Harrison, passes an act transferring the meteorological responsibilities of the Signal Service to the newly-created U.S. Weather Bureau in the Department of Agriculture.
(snip)
1940: The Weather Bureau is transferred to the Department of Commerce.
And yes, I have done a number of down-the-rabbit-hole deep dives into some of the historic records from some of the official reporting stations in the Philly metro area, which go back to 1874 and have been digitized (they were usually also bound and published as well).
In comparison, Accuweather was founded here in PA near the Penn State Campus in State College, in the '60s and the company's branded "name" didn't happen until the early '70s. The mets there (including the founder Joel Myers) were regularly featured here in Phlly on local radio/TV stations during the '70s - until within the past decade, originals began to retire.
Similarly, outlets like The Weather Channel didn't exist until the early '80s. Intellicast & Weather Underground appeared in the '90s (eventually merging with all kinds of wild stuff that went on with the Weather Channel buyouts).
As a note - I have 2 weather stations out back that report obs data to both Ambient and WU.
The bottom line is that the federal government STILL has "the deep pocket" to support these services - not just the satellites but the big super-computer hosted weather models (GFS (global), NAM & HRW -XXX (convective/meso), HRRR (short range), etc). They also collaborate with their neighboring offices to bring a consistency
across forecast regions.
The private weather services provide a much-needed
NICHE service for all the industries that rely on weather forecasting (agricultural interests, the energy sector, maritime interests, aviation interests, etc) and that is who contracts with them to do tailored forecasts.
But for "national" use, the private entities should NOT be involved. AT. ALL.
PRIVATE = "FOR PROFIT" and GOVERNMENT = "NOT FOR PROFIT".
Meanwhile, the billionaires have realized that there is a "deep pocket" in the federal government and have seized access to it in order to attempt to raid it as we type.
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