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TWN History
The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory. The Observatory maintains a weather station and scientific research facility atop Mount Washington at 6,288', the highest peak in the Northeast - and home to some of the world's most savage and interesting weather.
The Weather Notebook was born on November 29th in 1993. For years the Observatory had produced daily weather shows for broadcast on local radio stations. In the 1990s Observatory staff started to investigate the possibility of initiating a broader weather forecast service. Our research indicated the forecast business could be a tough one to get established in, but highlighted a real need for getting out more public information about the basics of weather, weather science, weather history, and the impact of weather on everyday life. With that mission in mind, our radio show was born.
The name The Weather Notebook was a while in coming though. At first, the show was called "Among the Clouds," appropriate for a show about the sky and weather phenomena, and very pertinent to Mount Washington since the summit is shrouded by clouds 60% of the time. The name hearkened to our heritage, as a newspaper called "Among the Clouds" was published and printed on Mount Washington from 1877 to 1908.
As much as we liked "Among the Clouds," we soon realized that a show about the weather should include "weather" in its title. "Weatherwise," one of the best names we could think of, was already taken by a fine weather magazine, but communications with the Weatherwise magazine indicated that staff welcomed a radio show by the same name. We expanded from a handful of regional stations to a growing number of affiliates across the nation with our official name change to "Weatherwise" on Groundhog Day, 1995. After a while, though, we realized we really needed our own identity and "The Weather Notebook" name was adopted in July of 1996.
Co-founder Dave Thurlow
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Though our name has changed a few times, our mission has always been the same: to enhance public understanding and appreciation of weather and its many manifestations.
Special thanks to the founders of the show Dave Thurlow, Doug Mayer and Engineer Sean Doucette and to other staff members throughout the years, such as Bryan Sejvar and Susan Ross-Parent who took a great idea and transformed it into a national radio program that reaches millions of people and enriches their lives with weather information. Thanks also to the staff at the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America for their support over the years. And above all, a special thank you to our affiliate stations and to all our listeners for their ten years of partnership!
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