LOCAL WEATHER OBSERVER RECEIVES NOAA ENVIRONMENTAL HERO AWARD

Grant Goodge, a long-time volunteer weather observer, received NOAA’s Environmental Hero Award today during a ceremony at a meeting of NOAA’s weather and climate experts at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Established in 1996, the Environmental Hero award is presented to individuals and organizations that volunteer their time and energy to help NOAA carry out its mission. Goodge was recognized for his long-term volunteer contributions to the advancement of research requiring environmental data.

Goodge became a NOAA National Weather Service cooperative weather observer in 1961, maintaining records for five different sites – two in Knoxville, Tenn., and three in Asheville. From 1979 to 1997, he personally kept two weather-monitoring stations running simultaneously, one in downtown Asheville and the other in Swannanoa, N.C.

Goodge traveled to both stations daily to record the weather data, never missing a day in 19 years. In addition to collecting these data, he provided 21 years of daily Touch-Tone transmission and voice calls to the NWS forecast offices in Raleigh/Durham and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. In January 2005, the Greenville office recognized Goodge with a 20-year award for his daily records of these weather observations. The statistics he collected are vital to science since they provide long-term data analysis for comparisons over time.

Thomas Karl, NCDC director quoted from a letter written by retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, “NOAA and the nation are fortunate to have such dedicated people volunteer so much of their time. They set a perfect example for others to follow in their communities. America can benefit from more environmental heroes like Grant.”

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

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