Two Letcher County Observers receive National Weather Service's Most Prestigious Awards

On Wednesday, April 4, 2018, the National Weather Service (NWS) honored two of our Volunteer Cooperative Observers, Mr. Robert Watts, from Skyline in Letcher County and Mr. Major Sparks from Whitesburg in Letcher County.

Mr. Watts was the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award, the most prestigious award given by the National Weather Service. This award was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, our third President, who kept an almost unbroken series of weather records from 1776 to 1816. There are only 5 of these awards presented annually across the nation. Mr. Watts has been a cooperative observer for NWS Jackson for over 43 years.

Mr. Sparks was the recipient of the John Campanius Holm Award, the second most prestigious award given by the National Weather Service. This award was named in honor of John Campanius Holm, a Lutheran minister who was a person known to have taken systematic weather observations in the American Colonies (1644-1645). There are only 25 of these awards presented annually across the nation. Mr. Sparks has been a cooperative observer for NWS Jackson for over 20 years.

To be eligible for a Holm Award a volunteer must have been an observer for at least 20 years. For the Jefferson Award, a volunteer must have been an observer for 25 years or more, and also have been a previous Holm Award recipient. The observer must also consistently provide accurate and complete weather observations under hazardous or extreme weather conditions over an extended period of time, have shown unusual effort to continuously provide observations despite illness, emergency absences, or equipment failure, and be civic minded and respected by members of his community.

Both of these observers have exhibited exemplary record-keeping abilities during their time as cooperative observer and are highly regarded members of their community.