NWS honoring Galbreath family Friday

Recognizing 48 years of service, NOAA’s National Weather Service has named Ritzville resident Greg Galbreath and the Galbreath family the 2013 recipients of the agency’s Thomas Jefferson Award for outstanding service in the Cooperative Weather Observer Program.

The award is the agency’s most prestigious, with the Galbreath’s award being the only one presented to cooperative weather observers from the Western Region this year.

“Cooperative observers are the cornerstone of weather data collection and analysis,” said Susan Nelson, date and observing systems program manager for NOAA’s National Weather Service Western Region. “Without long term, accurate weather observations taken by volunteer observers, scientists could not begin to adequately describe the climate of the United States. We can’t thank Mr. Galbreath and his family enough for their years of service to America.”

John Livingston, meteorologist in charge of the forecast office in Spokane, is presenting the award to Greg at a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 16, at the Ritzville Public Library.

The Galbreath family has been instrumental in collecting and disseminating weather reports since Ritzville’s incorporation in 1890. A relative of the Galbreaths, Daniel Buchanan, collected and published the first known weather records in Ritzville from 1891 to 1900.

For a generation, the data from the Galbreath’s Historic Climate Network weather station has been featured prominently on the front of The Ritzville Adams County Journal.

Cooperative weather observers provide a valuable service to the National Weather Service, the nation and the people who rely on their observations.

The Galbreath family’s service in weather observing and record keeping for the community of Ritzville and the National Weather Service provides valuable climatic information. They are part of a network of over 12,000 volunteers nationwide.

Greg’s reports help the National Weather Service more accurately predict the climate of the region.

He is among an elite group of people contributing their time to accurately collect weather information through the Cooperative Observer Program.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources.

More information about NOAA is available at http://www.noaa.gov.