VALDOSTA — Thomas Yawn, a Langdale Forest Products Company employee, was awarded the John Campanius Holm Award Tuesday.
This is the second most prestigious award given by the National Weather Service, said Michael J. McAllister, observing program team leader with the National Weather Service.
Yawn has been making and reporting weather-related observations daily from his home in Homerville for the past 21 years, he said.
The award is named for John Campanius Holm, a Lutheran minister who was the first person known to have taken systematic weather observations in the American colonies, McAllister said. Holm made observations without the use of instruments in 1644 and 1645 near the present site of Wilmington, Del., he said.
Yawn works in reforestation for Langdale Forest Products Company, he said. When he was transferred to Homerville by his previous employer in 1989, he said he was approached about doing the observations.
“The station was already there and they needed somebody to take care of it,” he said. “It used to be you had to go out in all kinds of weather. Now I can stay in my bedroom and look at the digital meter.”
Yawn still has to go outside to make some of the observations, like rainfall, he said. He takes measurements at 6 a.m. each morning of air temperature, soil temperature, rainfall and some other readings, which he then reports to the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Fla. He said the accuracy of the readings is extremely important.
“It’s got to be perfect,” he said.
Another important factor is reliability. Yawn has not been asleep on the job.
“It’s hard to find people like Thomas,” said Jason Deese, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Observations are the lifeline of what we do. We’ve had sites that we’ve had to take out before because people have left, but Thomas has been a mainstay there. It has really helped us out having someone that reliable.”
Yawn has also made some independent observations, McAllister said, reporting things like frost, fog or smoke. Once the data is certified by the National Climatic Data Center, McCallister said it is used for a multitude of purposes including climate study, litigation, to issue weather warnings, in water management, environmental impact assessments, and environmental monitoring and prediction, to name just a few.
The John Campanius Holm Award is only given to 25 recipients annually, McAllister said.
The National Weather Service’s most distinguished award for cooperative weather observers is named for Thomas Jefferson, who was one of the first people in the United States to collect daily weather information, according to the National Weather Service Web site. To receive the Thomas Jefferson award, recipients must first receive the John Campanius Holm Award, McAllister said.
Visit www.weather.gov/om/coop/ or call 1-800-499-1594 to learn more.
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Thomas Yawn, left, is presented the John Campanius Holm Award Tuesday in Valdosta by Michael McAllister, observing program team leader with the National Weather Service.
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Keeping an eye on the weather
Valdosta man recognized by National Weather Service
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