NWS Jacksonville, FL Office History

NWS Jacksonville - Office Locations

Through the years the U.S. Weather Bureau/National Weather Service Office has been located at various sites in the Jacksonville area.  Weather Records were begun by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1871.  Previous to that temperatures were recorded by reliable observers from 1829, and rainfall from 1851.  Judge F. Bethune kept records from 1829 until 1833, and Dr. A.S. Baldwin kept records from 1838 through 1872.  Breaks in the record occurred during the Indian Wars and the Civil War.

Location	From	To	Remarks	Photo
Masonic Hall (NE corner of Main & Bay Streets	Sep 13, 1871	Sep 19, 1871	Barometer received September 17, 1871, but not installed at this location.
Freedman's Bank Building Main & Forsyth Streets	Sep 20, 1871	Jul 21, 1880	Thermometers in window shelter 20 feet above the ground, rain gauge on roof 64 feet above the ground, anemometer between 75 and 90 feet above the ground.
Astor Building 138 W. Bay Street (SE corner Bay & Hogan Streets)	Jul 22, 1880	Jul 31, 1902	Thermometers in window shelter 30 feet above the ground from July 1880 to September 1886; in roof shelter 69 feet above the ground from October 1886 to July 1902.  Tipping bucket rain gauge installed March 4, 1891.
Dyal-Upchurch Building SE corner of Main & Bay Streets	Aug 1, 1902	Jan 3, 1915	Thermometers in roof shelter 100 feet above the ground.  Office burned Jan. 3, 1915.
30 South Main Street	Jan 4, 1915	Jan 31, 1915	No instruments installed.  Readings taken from kiosk instruments in Hemming Park.
Heard National Bank Building (later known as the Graham Building, SW corner of Forsyth & Laura Streets)	Feb 1, 1915	Dec 31, 1933	Thermometers in roof shelter 209 feet above the ground, anemometer height 245 feet.
US Court House & Post Office Bldg 315 W Monroe Street, Room 532	Jan 1, 1934	May 21, 1956	Thermometers in roof shelter 86 feet above the ground.  This office was combined with airport office at Imeson Field in January 1956.
Jacksonville Municipal Airport Imeson Field	Oct 31, 1930	Jan 19, 1971	Station history shows that the airport office, 7 miles north of the post office, may have actually opened in 1928.  From 1930 to 1940, temperature, rainfall, wind, and sunshine records continued at the city office, with barometer and humidity data compiled for the airport only.  The airport office became the synoptic station for Jacksonville on July 1, 1940.  Temperature and precipitation records continued at the city office, but wind, sunshine, barometer, and humidity data began being recorded at the airport office.  The airport office became the sole office in January 1956.
Jacksonville International Airport 2300 Barnstormer Rd.	Jan 19, 1971	Jan 19, 1995	The weather office moved from Imeson Airport to the northwest side of Jacksonville International Airport on January 19, 1971.
Jacksonville International Airport 13701 Fang Dr.	Jan 19, 1995	Present	The weather office moved to the southwest side of Jacksonville International Airport on January 19, 1995.  This new office was equipped with the WSR-88D doppler weather radar.  The upper air program was transferred from the WSMO Waycross, Georgia, on January 25, 1995.  ASOS replaced the manual observations on March 1, 1996.  The upper air system was upgraded to the Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS) on January 15, 2007.