100th Anniversary of First Official Aviation Weather Forecast

On December 1, 1918, Weather Bureau (NWS) forecasters combined ground observations with data collected by instrumented kites and tethered balloons to provide a forecast for the Aerial Mail Service route from New York to Chicago that had been established just months earlier. The reporting network for that historic forecast consisted of 18 kite stations; six operated by the Weather Bureau and the rest by the military.

Mail plane, 1918

U.S. Air Mail flight preparing for take-off in 1918.

Photo from Weatherwise, Nov/Dec 2008

Pibal released from aerological station at Royal Center, Indiana

The photo at left shows meteorologists releasing a balloon at the Aerological Station located in Royal Center, Indiana. It is being tracked with a theodolite, which gives the observers information about the movement of the balloon and, thus, wind speeds and directions well above the ground.

Below, a 1918 photograph shows the Royal Center Aerological Station the year it opened. The tall tower on the left supports the anemometer, which indicated wind direction and speed. Below the tower is the instrument shelter that housed thermometers.

In addition to balloons, box kites were also used to explore winds off the surface. The building on the left was the shop and storage building for the kites. Across the road, the structure on the right was an office building used for administrative tasks. There was a well and coal shed behind the office.

Royal Center Aerological Station in 1918

Photos from Monthly Weather Review Supplement 14, March 1919

The National Weather Service is still deeply invested in aviation weather monitoring and forecasting today. At the office here in Louisville we issue aviation-specific forecasts for Louisville International, Blue Grass Field, Bowling Green - Warren County Regional, and Huntingburg Regional a minimum of four times a day, with updates as necessary.

The Aviation Weather Center provides a full suite of weather and forecast products for our nation's aviation community.