NOAA NWS Phoenix Station History

Beginnings of the National Weather Service

In the 1800’s when communications in the United States were improved by the development of the railroads and telegraph, the practice of predicting weather from purely local signs and the haphazard measuring of meteorological phenomena began to decline.  Scientists had noted correlations between the weather in one section of the country on a particular day  and that in another section on the succeeding day. It was soon realized that a simultaneous knowledge of weather conditions all over the country could conceivably enable man to predict storms of major consequences, and that warnings from such predictions could save countless lives and protect property investments. But it was not until the late 1860’s that mounting public interest in a national weather service culminated in the signing into law by President Grant on February 9, 1870, of a resolution providing for meteorological observations at all military stations within the United States.

President Ulysses S. Grant

The selection of the U.S. Army Signal Service to take such observations was dictated by the availability of communication facilities which the Signal Service had developed during the

Civil War and were continuing to develop for protection against the Indians after the war. The original weather services provided by the military organization covered only the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts and the Great Lakes. Another Act of Congress, on June 10, 1872, extended these services throughout the entire United States.

Weather observations had been taken at many Army posts in Arizona prior to these formalities by Army Post Surgeons. Observations are still taken at a few of  these locations today, including the Yuma Quartermaster Depot at the Colorado River State Historic Park, the 1st location in the State of Arizona to take official weather observations.

Observations from these stations were primarily temperature and rainfall. It wasn’t until 1891, when the U.S. Weather Bureau was established, that development of reporting stations proceeded. The Bureau directed  its attention mainly toward establishing a network of field stations. Faced with the growth of public interests, civic pride and the need to provide the best coverage for its forecasting and warning services with limited funds, the Weather Bureau could only slowly grant requests to establish stations in a rapidly expanding Nation.

Expansion to Arizona

The first Weather Bureau Office to open in Arizona was in Yuma where the duties were transferred from the Army at Fort Yuma in July 1891. Tucson followed in September of that year and it was not until four years later than the small community of Phoenix rated a full station.  Records had been kept in Phoenix by the Signal Service beginning on January 28, 1876, and  Signal Service personnel continued  to take observations until they transferred the station on the corner of Center  and Washington Streets to the Weather Bureau on August 6, 1895.

Downtown Phoenix at the time when the first Weather Bureau office was open.

In 1901 the office was moved to the southwest corner of 1st Avenue and Adams where it remained until it moved into the Federal Building on the Southwest corner of 1st Avenue and Van Buren in March 1913. Three years later in June 1916, the office moved to the Water User’s Building on the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and Van Buren.

Government Block (Federal Bldg and Water User’s Bldgs)
on the SW corner of 1st Ave and Van Buren. (Courtesy ASU Archives).

It remained there until September 1924 when it moved to the Ellis Building at 2nd Avenue and Monroe. On October 21, 1936, it moved to the Federal Building at Central and Fillmore where it stayed until it was closed on October 22, 1953.

Modernizing Services

Meanwhile, the development of air transportation and teletype communications in the 1920’s and 1930’s altered and redirected somewhat  the purpose of the Weather Bureau as first defined by the law in 1890. This law provided for “the distribution of meteorological information in the interest of agriculture and commerce…” as one of the Weather Bureau’s major functions. “Commerce” now included the mushrooming aviation industry – and in 1940, to meet  this partial change in emphasis, the Weather Bureau was transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Commerce where it remains today. In support of this new means of transportation,  another Weather Bureau office was established at Sky Harbor Airport on May 2, 1933, and observations were taken there also until July 1935 when the Department of Commerce radio operators took over the program. The Weather Bureau returned again to this station in January 1939 and has managed the station ever since that time.

The  two offices were combined at the airport in October 1953. Pilot balloons were released beginning in 1930, continuing until 1966. The office was upgraded to a Weather Forecast Office in June 1971.The office became a Weather Forecast Office as part of the modernized NWS in the 1990’s and moved  to the Salt River Project administration building in Tempe, where it is still located today.