Title: United States, Weather Bureau, La Crosse Station (La Crosse, Wisconsin) Records
Date: 1872-1974

Creator:

• United States. Weather Bureau. La Crosse Weather Station (La Crosse, Wis.).

Unique Identifier: La Crosse Series 004

Quantity: 18.8 cubic feet

Physical Description: 47 archives boxes, 7 volumes

Repository:

La Crosse Public Library
Contact Information

Archival Location:

La Crosse Public Library (Map)

Abstract:

Records of the U. S. Weather Bureau’s La Crosse (Wis.) office that include administration (1872-1947), meteorological data (1872-1948; 1951-1974), and Mississippi River data (1874-1969). Administrative records include correspondence (1872-1912) and a register of events (1905-1947) which logs non-meteorological events that occurred at the weather station. Meteorological records (1872-1974) include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports from the La Crosse station, as well as yearly federal reports of the chief of the Weather Bureau. Mississippi River materials include daily river stages across the country (1890-1969) and records of observations of the Mississippi River at La Crosse (1874-1905).

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.lcpl-lacrosseseries004

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42438443

(Accession no. x.024) Donated by the United States Weather Bureau, La Crosse office in 1982

Local Climatological Data added from the La Crosse Clipping File in the Archives and Local History Room at the La Crosse Public Library in 1996.

Materials in this collection are available for patron use.

[Identification of item], United States, Weather Bureau, La Crosse Station (La Crosse, Wisconsin) Records, La Crosse Series 004, La Crosse Public Library Archives, La Crosse, WI

Processed by Cindy Mischnick, Oct. 1985; Carrie Seib, May 1996

Arranged in three series:

Series 1: Administrative Records

Series 2: Meteorological Data

Series 3: Mississippi River Data

Records of the U. S. Weather Bureau’s La Crosse (Wis.) office that include administration (1872-1947), meteorological data (1872-1948; 1951-1974), and Mississippi River data (1874-1969). Administrative records include correspondence (1872-1912) and a register of events (1905-1947) which logs non-meteorological events that occurred at the weather station. Meteorological records (1872-1974) include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports from the La Crosse station, as well as yearly federal reports of the chief of the Weather Bureau. Mississippi River materials include daily river stages across the country (1890-1969) and records of observations of the Mississippi River at La Crosse (1874-1905).

The National Weather Service was officially started in 1870 when, through a joint resolution, official weather stations were set up at military stations as part of the signal service of the War Department. In 1871 reports for stages of water and rivers were added to the stations' duties. It was believed that the weather reports were valuable enough to agriculture and commerce to warrant an appropriation bill in 1872 for storm signals to be set up at the stations. In 1890 the meteorological work of the signal service of the War Department was transferred to the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture and in 1940 the Weather Bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce. It was consolidated with the Coast and Geodetic Survey to form a new agency in the Department of Commerce called the Environmental Science Services Administration in 1965 and when the ESSA was abolished in 1970, the Weather Bureau was established within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The name was changed back to the National Weather Service, the name it had started out with one hundred years before.

The La Crosse office of the National Weather Service was organized in 1872, and it was located in the Mons Anderson Building at 2nd and Main St. The station was relocated to the Opera House Building at 4th and Main St. in 1881 and in 1887, it moved to the McMillan Building at the NE corner of 4th and Main St. In 1890 it moved to the U.S. Court House Building at the NW corner of 4th and State St. and in 1902 it moved to the Federal Building at the NE corner of 4th & State St.

In 1907, the Weather Bureau built a building for the La Crosse Weather Station at 5th and Cass Streets. This building was used steadily by the Weather Bureau for forty-five years with one significant change; in 1943 the station lost its status as an official climatological station because of an effort by the government to "economize and eliminate duplication of work". Data was still gathered and information compiled, but it was considered unofficial. In 1952 the La Crosse station moved to offices in the administration building at the La Crosse Municipal Airport, due to the consolidation of the city and airport weather offices and the National Weather Bureau began to face the first of many federal government budget cuts. The La Crosse office, as well as others across the country, lost space, personnel and hours of operation over and over, only to gain them back again. The La Crosse office was threatened with closing many times, but the threat was never carried out. It was only moved once during this period, back to the federal building at 4th and State Streets in 1969.

Positive changes for the La Crosse office began in the late 1980s. The office was down to one employee after more federal budget cuts when it was announced that the La Crosse office had been chosen for an upgrade to a regional facility. In 1994, there was a ground breaking ceremony for a new $3 million facility including a Doppler Radar tower located on the bluff adjacent to HWY FA on the ridge east of Hixon Forest. The National Weather Service moved into the building in 1995 and staff has grown to fifteen people. The office will be adding more staff and will take over larger forecasting areas as other offices close.

(Clipping file)

La Crosse--National Weather Service

(Ephemera file)

Climate

• United States. National Weather Service.
• United States. Weather Bureau. La Crosse Weather Station (La Crosse, Wis.).
• La Crosse (Wis.)--Climate
• Meteorological stations--Wisconsin--La Crosse--Observations
• Meteorology--Wisconsin--La Crosse
• Public records--Wisconsin--La Crosse

(Series 1)	Series: Administrative Records Scope and Contents In the Administrative Records series, correspondence includes volumes of letters received containing summaries of, or notes taken on incoming correspondence instead of the letters themselves. Letters sent volumes consist of either hand-written or letter-press copies. A log of non-meteorological events that occurred at the weather station is found in the Register of Events, 1905-1947.
Box 1 Box 2   Folder 1	Correspondence received, 1872-1887
Box 2   Folder 2-5 Box 3-5 Box 6   Folder 1	Correspondence sent, 1872-1912
Box 6   Folder 3	Register of events, 1905-1947
(Series 2)	Series: Meteorological Data Scope and Contents Meteorological Data includes daily, weekly, monthly and yearly records. Previous to 1905, these records were bound separately. Daily journals contain written summaries of the daily weather and most volumes have an index to meteorological events. The weekly, monthly and yearly (meteorological) volumes consist of data sheets including barometer readings, temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation amounts and type, and remarks about the general state of the weather. "Record forms" are letter-press copies of data forms the La Crosse office sent to their national office. They contain information compiled from the daily and monthly reports. After 1905 these records were included with the meteorological records. Meteorological records (1905-1948) volumes are divided into three parts; original monthly observations with summaries, annual meteorological summaries and daily local records. Barometer readings, temperature, wind speed and direction, and precipitation amounts and type as well as miscellaneous meteorological phenomena are the kinds of information recorded in these volumes. Each year also has an index to meteorological events such as lightning (damage and death), frosts (light, heavy, killing), tornados and rainbows as well as the days observations were not made or taken later than normal. Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau (1906-1935) is an annual report of the federal agency, including such information as an administrative report, division reports, climatological summaries, and meteorological data for the country. Local Climatological Data includes yearly and monthly data, 1951-1974. The yearly records are complete to 1971. The monthly records are scattered and incomplete, and none are present for 1951-1960.	⇧
Box 7-9 Box 10   Folder 1	Daily journals, 1872-1904
Box 10   Folder 2-4 Box 11   Folder 1 Volume 1-4	Weekly meteorological reports, 1872-1881
Box 11   Folder 2-4 Box 12 Box 13   Folder 1-3 Volume 5	Monthly meteorological reports, 1881-1904
Volume 6	Meteorological yearly summaries, 1872-1904
Box 6   Folder 2 Box 13   Folder 4 Box 14-27	Record forms, 1872-1948
Box 38-43	Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau, 1906-1935
Box 43A	Local climatological data, 1951-1974
(Series 3)	Series: Mississippi River Data Scope and Contents Under the heading Mississippi River Data is information on river stages across the country contained in the volumes titled Daily River Stages (1890-1969). There are 3 volumes missing from Daily River Stages; 1907-1908, 1952-1953 and 1955. The Records of Observations of the Mississippi River at La Crosse, 1906-1935 consist of observations of river stages of the Mississippi River at La Crosse only.	⇧
Box 28-37	Daily river stages, 1890-1969
Volume 7-10	Record of observations of the Mississippi River at La Crosse, 1874-1905