- Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Administrative Information
- Access:
- Publication Rights:
- Background Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Container List
- Series 1 Albany Observers Daily Form, 1981, 1983-1990
- Series 2 AMOS (Automated Meteorological Observation System), 1976-1991
- Series 3 Cooperative Meteorological Observers Records/River & Climatological Charts, 1894-1997, gaps
- Series 4 Daily Observations, May 1960 - Aug 1992
- Series 5 Synoptic Observation Records, Nov 1961-Oct 1975
- Series 6 Radio Broadcast Scripts, 1980-83, 1985-90
- Series 7 Weather Files, 1948-1971
- Series 8 Other Records
- Series 9 Anemograph Charts, Feb 28, 1956 - Dec 21, 1994 (1980-81 gap)
Records of the Northern New England Weather Center
Collection Summary
- Repository
- The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium Archives.1302 Main St., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
- Creator
- Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
- Title
- Records of the Northern New England Weather Center
- Dates [inclusive]
- 1894-1997
- Shelf location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please contact the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium Archives.
- Language
- English
- Abstract
- The Northern New England Weather Center is a program of the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium. Collection includes weather observations and recordings documenting meteorological conditions in St. Johnsbury and other sites in northern Vermont from 1894 to the present.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Records of the Northern New England Weather Center Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium Archives.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections © 2001
Access:
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights:
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium Archives.
Background Note
Franklin Fairbanks was an avid amateur naturalist who kept concise records at his family home, Underclyffe, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. When the Fairbanks Museum was built in 1891, he continued his work, and, in 1894, set up an observation station at the Museum and began to share his information with the National Weather Service Bureau. In the late 1940's, Fairbanks Museum Director Fred Mold added radio broadcasting to the weather recording functions. Taking advantage of important new technology, newly available to the northern Vermont region, Mold initiated 3 minute weather reports three times daily on radio station WTWN (now WSTJ 1340 AM). Part of the popularity of these early broadcasts came from Mold's folksy style, with weather interspersed with local stories, bird calls and nature lore. With regional corporate funding for new state-of-the-art facilities, the Museum created The Northern New England Weather Center (NNEWC) in January 1986. Staffed by professional meteorologists trained at Lyndon State College, Mark Breen and Steve Maleski, the Museum began an alliance with the College and its worldwide computer and satellite weather data service. The NNEWC continues to create accurate, local weather forecasts covering the tri-state region of Vermont, New Hampshire, and upper New York, and adjacent areas in the US and Canada. NNEWC has provided contracted weather services to commercial and public radio stations (including Vermont Public Radio) with a listener base of over three million, plus regional ski resorts, public utility corporations and private professional firms.
Scope and Content Note
The Northern New England Weather Center Records, 1894 - 1997, 34 linear feet, are the observations and recordings compiled at the Fairbanks Museum's Center. The records document meteorological conditions in St. Johnsbury and northern New England from 1894 to the present. While much of the information contained in the records can also be accessed through the National Climatic Data Center, some of it, most notably the wind data, is unique and only available through the Fairbanks Museum Archives. The records include observation forms and recorded charts of weather conditions. The records are organized in 9 series.