(L-R)  Mr. Steve Summy, Observations Program Leader National Weather Service Forecast Office Salt Lake City,
Mrs. Phyllis Crook, Cooperative Weather Observer Heber, Mrs. Annie Crook DeGroff, daughter of Mrs. Phyllis Crook,
and Mrs. Susan Nelson, National Weather Service Western Region Cooperative Program Manager.

NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PRESENTS FAMILY HERITAGE AWARD
TO MRS. PHYLLIS CROOK FOR 147 YEARS OF FAMILY SUPPORT

Officials from NOAA’s National Weather Service forecast office in Salt Lake City, Utah, honored Phyllis Crook in a ceremony marking the family’s 147 years of volunteer weather observations.

“Cooperative observers, such as Phyllis Crook, are the bedrock of weather data collection and analysis,” said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “Satellites, high-speed computers, mathematical models and other technological breakthroughs have brought great benefits to the Nation in terms of better forecasts and warnings. But, without the accumulation of accurate weather observations taken by volunteer observers, scientists could not begin to adequately describe the climate of the United States. We cannot thank the Crook Family enough for their service to America.”

Robert Tibi, deputy director of the National Weather Service Western Region, presented the award during a ceremony at 11 a.m. December 19 at the Crook home in Heber City. Also on hand were Susan Nelson, NWS Coop Program Manager, Larry Dunn, Meteorologist-in-Charge National Weather Forecast Office Salt Lake City, and Steve Summy, Observations Program Leader National Weather Service Forecast Office Salt Lake City.

“Volunteers like Phyllis are crucial to National Weather Service operations,” said Tibi.  “Of more than 12,000 volunteer observers around the country contributing to the daily collection of weather data needed to maintain forecasting and climatological records, only a handful has been in operation for 100 years or more.” 

Crook’s award is one of only three Family Heritage honors granted nationwide in 2006 by the National Weather Service.  Cooperative weather observers provide a valuable service to our agency, our nation and the people who rely on their information.  The Crook Family has provided dependable, accurate and timely weather observations that have defined the climate for Heber City, Utah, since May 2, 1859.  The Crook Family has taken more than an estimated 50,000 observations during this time.

Crook was also presented a 30-year Length of Service Award at the ceremony.  She and her late husband, Clark, assumed the cooperative observing duties in 1976 from another family member.  Phyllis and Clark have received several National Weather Service cooperative observer honors for their length of service.  In 1986, they were awarded the John Campanius Holm Award.  The Holm award is a prestigious award named for a Lutheran minister who is the first person was known to have taken systematic weather observations in 1644 and 1645 in the American Colonies.

The history of the Heber City, Utah, weather records began in 1859 when John Crook, one of ten original settlers, entered the Heber Valley.  His daily journal listed weather conditions as well as physical hardships and other problems.  In January 1893, he was appointed an official Weather Bureau Observer and was furnished standard weather bureau equipment.  The weather observing duties for Heber, Utah, have been passed down through the Crook Family for the past 147 years.  This is quite an accomplishment by the Crook Family.

In 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation.  From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. 

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Mr. Robert Tibi, Deputy Director, National Weather Service Western Region, also
presents the 30-Year Length of Service Award to Mrs. Phyllis Crook.

Cooperative Observer Program

Recent Coop Observer Awards