Weather Observer: Greg Galbreath continues family tradition

For the past 16 years, Greg Galbreath has carried on a tradition started generations ago by recording weather in Ritzville for the National Weather Service (NWS). On Friday, Aug. 16, Greg and his family were honored at the Ritzville Public Library for their tenured service to the community and NWS.

Greg received the Thomas Jefferson Award for outstanding service in the Cooperative Weather Observer Program during the Friday morning program. The award is one of the highest honors bestowed to weather observers by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Galbreath family is the only weather observers to receive the award in the Western Region of the United States this year. Combined, the three generations of weather observers in the Galbreath family have accumulated 48 years of recorded the weather patterns for the Ritzville community.

For Greg, the weather collection is a fairly simple process and he reports the daily weather data to the NWS Spokane office on a regular basis. Greg also provides the weekly weather updates for The Journal, which helps inform subscribers of the weekly recorded high and low temperatures, rainfall and snowfall in the area.

The weather station is similar to any other recording equipment individuals might purchase to use for personal weather collection date, but the high tech weather station provided by NWS helps Greg accurately track the weather patterns in the area.

About two weeks ago, Greg had a new solar-powered weather station installed on his property on the edge of the city limits of Ritzville. The station stands about seven feet high, unobstructed next to the horse paddock on his property.

Previously, the rather antiquated station sat in Greg’s backyard near a tree line and has remained in the same place throughout the 48 years the Galbreath’s have recorded weather. The new equipment brings about multiple advantages for Greg, and he looks forward to having the new technology on his property.

Perhaps the largest benefit of the new weather station is having all of the weather information electronically transferred to the house. The panel is stationed in the home and allows Greg to collect weather data with simply a push of a button instead of leaving the residence to retrieve the morning’s statistics.

The new panel inside the house allows Greg to track the temperature to record the high and low of each day, as well as the averages. Another new addition to Greg’s records is the ability to track wind speed.

The new weather station includes a wind gauge, which helps Greg track the direction of the wind, the highest and lowest speed of wind, and the averages. Greg has the ability to monitor the wind speed over an extended course of time, or can restart the recording device to gather data on a daily basis.

Since Greg has only had the new technology for about two weeks, he has not yet recorded a large windstorm in the area. The biggest wind gusts recorded have been 28 miles per hour, which occurred during a thunderstorm over a week ago.

The precipitation and snowfall amounts are gathered and recorded manually by Greg from a separate collection site in the farmyard area next to his home. Greg uses a measuring stick to record the rainfall in the gauge and precipitation amounts, and uses the top collection point for snowfall data.

When it snows, Greg walks the yard to find a flat piece of ground without any snowdrifts. He measures the snowfall in the location, and uses the scoop from the rain gauge to collect the snow. After taking the sample into the house, Greg melts the snow in order to learn the precipitation amount for the day.

Greg records all of the weather data on a 24-hour schedule. Every morning, Greg phones the Spokane NWS office to enter his data for the day. Greg said he calls the line early in the morning, enters his co-op’s number and individually enters the data.

The Galbreath family has been one of the most consistent families to record weather in the area, though many other families and businesses have assisted in weather data collection over the years. Greg hopes his daughter, Hallie, will continue the tradition to become the fourth generation of Galbreaths to provide weather service to the Ritzville area.

Greg volunteers his time to collect data for the NWS and in return for his service, all of the weather recording equipment is provided and maintained by NWS. Greg is only one of over 12,000 volunteers who collect data for NWS Cooperative Observer Program nationwide.

For more information on the program, visit http://noaa.gov. Daily weather information can be found at http://weather.gov/spokane.