The Missoula office of the U.S. Weather Bureau was established on November 1, 1935, in the Montana Building at 101 Broadway. On November 1, 1938, the office moved one block to the Federal Building. From July 1, 1939, to October 1, 1941, weather observations were also recorded by Civil Aeronautics Administration personnel at Hale Field; this station moved to the Missoula County Airport effective October 1, 1941. The two weather stations were consolidated when the Weather Bureau office moved to the Missoula County Airport on December 1, 1944.
The Weather Bureau was established in 1870. It was under the authority of the Army Signal Service/Signal Corps until 1891, when it was transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1940 the Weather Bureau was transferred to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In Missoula, before establishment of the Weather Bureau office, weather observations were made by the U.S. Army at Fort Missoula from April 1893 to May 1898. From May 1898 to November 1935, weather observations were made by University of Montana Professor Morton J. Elrod and his students at his home on West Fifth Street South in Missoula.
The collection contains daily meteorological observations from November 1935 to December 1988. Records from 1973 to 1975 are missing. Materials consist of Weather Bureau forms in bound volumes (1935-1978 and 1983-1988) and boxes (1945-1948 and 1979-1982), arranged chronologically. The meteorological observations include data such as temperature, barometric pressure, dewpoint, humidity, wind, precipitation, cloud type, visibility, and general weather conditions. The forms include notes on equipment maintenance and physical description of the various weather station locations.
WB Form 1001 (later 733j) includes daily records and a monthly summary. Form 1002 is an annual summary. Form 1014 is a daily local record, with index. Form 1130 (later WBAN 10) records airway weather observations. Pilot Reports (abbreviated PIREPS) are monthly reports on weather more than 1.5 miles from any airport runway. These reports appear from April 1950 to November 1962 but are not clearly titled as a separate form until 1959. Form 450-10 (later WS Form H-10) is a monthly equipment operation log. Many volumes include Weather Bureau instructions for preparing the forms, a typed narrative summary of the month's weather, and typed instructions for preparing the daily local record index. Volumes from 1949 on include Forms 1001 and 1130 only; Forms 1002, 1014, and indexes no longer appear. Equipment operation logs appear from 1968 to 1982. Descriptions of the weather station locations and instrumentation appear on various forms throughout the collection.
Volumes 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, and 16 include both airport and city office observations, reflecting the two observation stations that were operating from 1939 to 1944. Corrections are occasionally noted for a previous month.
This collection is arranged in a single series.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana--Missoula.
Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana.
[Name of document], Missoula Weather Forecast Office Records, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana--Missoula.
Materials in this collection remained in the possession of the USWB Missoula office until donation to the K. Ross Toole Archives.
Gift of United States Weather Bureau, Missoula, 1978, 1982, and 1991
During original processing the four boxes containing Form 1130 (Original Record of Airway Observations, 1945-1948) were considered a separate series from the bound volumes. In 1998 all collection materials were chronologically integrated into one series and re-described.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.