For more on the cooperative observer program, go to www.nws.noaa.gov/om/coop/.
What does Willis Swint of Jonesboro have in common with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin? No, he is not a Founding Father. And unlike the others, he is still very much alive. But like those other notable Americans, Swint has been instrumental in maintaining our country’s weather records. For six decades, the 87-year-old has been a “cooperative observer” for the National Weather Service, recording the rain that falls behind Swint’s Feed & Garden Supply, Swint’s Jonesboro store on Main Street. Before that, Swint’s father, E.J. Swint, measured the rainfall. The younger Swint has something else in common with Jefferson and Franklin. In 2014, the National Weather Serivce presened him with the Benjamin Franklin Award for his service. This past October, he received the Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor given an observer.
Q: How did you come to measure rainfall for the National Weather Service?
A: My daddy started way back yonder, in January 1941. When I graduated from the University of Georgia, I started doing it full-time.
Q: You measure the rainfall at the your store?
A: I have a container out back. When my daddy first started, he operated a cotton gin in downtown Jonesboro. After World War II, cotton growing moved west and so we just had to get out of that. We were already selling feed and seed and we just expanded. When there hasn't been any rain, of course you don't have anything to measure. If you do have something, I measure it at 8 a.m. In recent years, I also measure the high and low temperature. To measure that, we got this contraption with a thermometer that looks like a honeycomb.
Q: We sure have had a lot of rain, haven’t we?
A: 2015 is the most rainfall we gave recorded for the Jonesboro area since my father started recording in 1941. The total rainfall last year was 74.08 inches, beating the old record of 73.42 inches in 1948. We had 15 inches this past December. The previous record was 9.76 inches in 2009.
Q: Do you get paid to measure the rainfall and temperature?
A: Funny thing about that. I have been doing it all these years for $30 a quarter, which works out to $10 a month. Last year, the National Weather Service came and said they couldn't afford to pay me and asked if I still wanted to do it. I said, "Sure. I have been doing it all this time."
Q: Why do you do it?
A: It is just interesting to me. I just like keeping up with figures. I don't get anything now except the pleasure and the joy.
Q: Why is it important to measure the rainfall?
A: It helps the people in agriculture know what to expect. It helps the National Weather Service know. It helps cities and counties know. The Clayton County Water Authority calls me every month to get the readings. It just helps people know what to expect.
Q: What happens when you can’t do it?
A: My son Roger and his wife Kathy do it. They are more or less running the store now. Roger is interested in it and I'm going to turn it over to him one of these days but I am not quite ready to retire.
Q: Was it cool getting the Thomas Jefferson Award?
A: I have gotten five awards over the years but none as important as the Thomas Jefferson Award. It is most prestigious one they give out. More than 100 people came down to the store for the ceremony. It is a real honor.
Q: Were there days when you thought, “This is a pain. I’m going to give it up.”
A: No, no, no, no. It is in my blood.
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