Great Blue Hill Weather Observatory

History

The Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts is the foremost structure associated with the history of weather observations in the United States. Located atop Great Blue Hill about 10 miles south of Boston, Massachusetts, it is home to the oldest continuous weather record in North America, and was the location of the earliest kite soundings of the atmosphere in North America in the 1890s, as well as the development of the radiosonde in the 1930s.

Founded by Abbott Lawrence Rotch in 1884, the observatory took a leading role in the newly emerging science of meteorology and was the scene of many of the first scientific measurements of upper atmosphere weather conditions, using kites to carry weather instruments aloft. Knowledge of wind velocities, air temperature and relative humidity at various levels came into use as vital elements in weather prediction due to techniques developed at this site. By 1895 the observatory was the source of weather forecasts of remarkable accuracy. On August 4, 1894 the first atmospheric sounding in the world was accomplished at the observatory, with a weather kite carrying a thermograph 2,030 feet above sea level. On October 8, 1896, a record of 8740 feet (2,665 m) was achieved for a weather kite. During the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, the observatory measured the strongest wind gust ever directly measured and recorded in a hurricane at 186 mph (299 km/h).

The observatory remains active to this day, continuing to add to its database of weather observations now more than one hundred years old, and stands as a monument to the science of meteorology in the United States.

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