I want to recognize Mr. Willis Swint of Jonesboro GA this week for receiving the Thomas Jefferson Award from NOAA for his 56 years of service as a National Weather Service cooperative observer. In all of those years, Mr. Swint has never missed an observation. That is 20,440 consecutive days of measuring temperature and precipitation! Only five of these rewards are given each year to the more than 12,000 observers scattered around the country, so it is a very prestigious honor.
Mr. Swint measured more than 20 inches of rain in the 1994 passage of Tropical Storm Alberto through central Georgia. His observations, along with those from other observers, helped the NWS issue flash flood warnings, and was later used in post-storm analyses which contributed to claims for insurance payments and lawsuits. He took over the position from his father, Edgar Jewel Swint, who started taking observations in 1941.
Meteorologists and climatologists rely on the daily observations taken by volunteer observers like Mr. Swint to provide timely information about the state of the atmosphere across the country every day. These observations are archived at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA) and are used for many different purposes, including legal and insurance claims, utility tracking of degree days, and measuring climate trends as well as documenting extreme weather.
You can read more about the award and Mr. Swint at https://www.news-daily.com/news/2015/oct/09/lifelong-jonesboro-resident-earns-thomas/ and see some video about him at Fox 5 https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/31783061-story.
