The
Weather Bureau, as does today's National Weather Service, had the
obvious function of observing and predicting the weather. Less obvious
was its role in developing a great communications system for presenting
its findings to the public. Telegraph, signal flags, community kiosks
for displaying daily weather maps and forecasts, bicycle messengers,
wireless radio, and newspaper forecasts were the methods of disseminating
weather information in the past. Today citizens of the United States
take it for granted that they can flick a switch or log onto the Internet
to observe satellite and radar imagery and obtain up-to-date forecasts
and warnings. NOAA Weather radio is available 24 hours a day throughout
most of our Nation. This great system is a tribute to the vision,
genius, and perseverance of the founders of the Weather Service as
well as those who run the great communications gateway of today's
National Weather Service.
