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Rocky Start
Wed Feb 11, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Sex scandals, embezzlement, shocking revelations of incompetence and impropriety, outraged
cries for Congressional investigation. Hi, this is Bryan Yeaton, and yes, you're listening to
The Weather Notebook, but you're not listening to a round-up of today's headlines. That's the
early history of an organization that eventually became the National Weather Service.
The US Army Signal Corps began forecasting the nation's weather back in 1870 -- and soon it
was crawling with controversy. Vicious gossip and inter-office back stabbing were rife.
Cabinet members berated the chief signal officer for inaccurate forecasts and refusing to hire
an African-American, while the chief complained that spies had been planted in his office.
Someone leaked a story to the press that a board of weather experts had come to the conclusion
that only one Signal officer was competent to forecast.
Meanwhile, out in the field, Signal Corps observers were embroiled in all sorts of hanky panky
-- from pawning their barometers to pay off poker debts to inviting young women to pose for
nude photos in the weather stations. To cap it all off, in 1881, the chief financial manager
of the Signal Corps, the dashing, yet philandering Captain Henry W. Howgate, was arrested for
embezzling nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Why so crazy? A big part of the problem arose from an institutional identity crisis. Weather
forecasting had never been a good fit with army rules and regulations, and there had been
tension from the start between Signal Corps brass and civilian forecasters. In 1891, Congress
voted to move weather forecasting to the Department of Agriculture and the storms of scandal
subsided.
David Laskin sent us today's story. The squeaky clean Weather Notebook is produced with
support from The National Science Foundation and Subaru -- Driven By What's Inside. Thanks
today to Technical Producer Doug Sanborn. Thanks also to Marketing Manager Melody Nester. Find
us online at www.weathernotebook.org.
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