A major winter storm will produce widespread significant impacts from the central Plains across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, and into the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend into Monday. Areas between central Kansas and Indiana, especially along and north of Interstate 70, are likely to receive heavy snowfall. Icing is likely from eastern Kansas into the southern Appalachians. Read More >
(Pictured left to right: Tony Anderson, Service Hydrologist WFO Pueblo; Randall Gray, Observing Program Leader WFO Pueblo; Mr. Clyde Kennedy, Cooperative Weather Observer; Mrs. Marie Kennedy; Jennifer Stark, Meteorologist-in-Charge WFO Pueblo. Picture at Shorty’s Café, Granada, CO.)
Clyde Kennedy of Granada, Colorado, marked sixty years of faithful volunteer service tending a National Weather Service Cooperative Network rain gauge, on December 1st 2015.
To honor Mr. Kennedy’s long and dedicated service, on April 7th, representatives from the National Weather Service Forecast office in Pueblo presented him with a Helmut E. Landsberg Service Award, along with a Lifetime Achievement pin and a thank you letter signed by the Director of the National Weather Service, Dr. Louis Uccellini, and Central Region Director, Christopher Strager.
Meteorologist-in-Charge Jennifer Stark, accompanied by Observing Program Leader Randall Gray and Service Hydrologist Tony Anderson had a very enjoyable visit with Clyde and his lovely wife Marie. The party enjoyed lunch at Shorty’s Café, one of Clyde and Marie’s favorite spots in Granada. Chris Frost of the Lamar Ledger newspaper interviewed members of the gathering and wrote a very fine story highlighting a bit of Clyde’s life and observing experiences to be published the following week.
During Mr. Kennedy’s college days, he was asked to consider a career with the Weather Bureau in Cheyenne Wyoming, but opted to continue to pursue accounting instead. It might be that first job offer was what planted the seed of interest in weather observing.
Mr. Kennedy said that in 1955, “A friend of mine was doing it and he left the country. I hated to see the rain gauge information go out the window, so I volunteered to do it.” A commendable spirit which has played a significant role in keeping weather records for Granada, dating back to 1891.
It is very much in Mr. Kennedy’s character that he persevered for six decades, a career that has seen recorded charts, mailed weekly, later, the ‘new’ technology of the Fischer-Porter Punch Tape gauge, and eventually the Coastal Environmental Systems digital recording gauge in 2012. Clyde credits Marie for her faithful reminders that “tomorrow is the first, and that will be time to change the rain gauge.”
Clyde and Marie graciously shared stories of their lives, which has been a treasured tradition in NWS Pueblo’s station visits with the Kennedy’s. The couple first met in England, during World War II, and has lived a long, full life together in Granada, raising a family, and traveling far and wide.
Along with being the local weather man, Mr. Kennedy has also been the long serving secretary of a local lodge, and has kept in touch with his compatriots of the 90th Infantry Division, attending many Unit Reunions.
The Helmut E. Landsberg Service Award was established in honor of Helmut E. Landsberg, who was largely responsible for establishing the nationwide climatological network as we know it today. This award is granted to an observer for 60 years of service.
The long and dedicated service of Clyde Kennedy of Granada, Colorado, is in the tradition of such luminaries as Dr. Landsberg. The National Weather Service in Pueblo is very proud of Mr. Kennedy. The hospitality and friendship of Clyde and Marie have also been greatly valued by those who have met them and visited their home and weather station. This award and gathering are somewhat bittersweet, as it will be Mr. Kennedy’s last service award. At age 97, Mr. Kennedy has asked to be relieved of his duties and to retire from being a cooperative weather observer. Such a friend and dedicated volunteer will be missed and not soon forgotten.
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