Joseph Henry Calls for National Weather Service
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PrintIn his annual report for 1865, Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry calls for the federal government to establish a national weather service capable of issuing storm warnings and other weather predictions. He estimates this will cost at least $50,000 a year. Others urge similar proposals. The Smithsonian's network of volunteer weather observers has dropped from over six hundred before the Civil War to half that number in 1865.
Chronology of Smithsonian History
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
1865
Meteorology