December 3: On this day in 1838, American meteorologist Cleveland Abbe was born in New York City into the prosperous merchant family of George Waldo and Charlotte Colgate Abbe.
In school, Cleveland excelled in mathematics and chemistry and graduated in 1857 from the Free Academy (now the City College of New York). He taught engineering for two years at the University of Michigan while studying astronomy under Franz Brünnow.
In 1868 he was hired by the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, but the organization lacked consistent funding and he lost his job less than a year later. This event convinced him to change his career path.
Remembering that meteorological conditions directly affected the work of astronomers, he began working in the field of meteorology. He won approval to report on and predict the weather, working on the premise that forecasts could and should be generated at minimal expense and in such a way as to perhaps even produce income.
While director of the Cincinnati Observatory in Cincinnati, Ohio, he developed a system of telegraphic weather reports, daily weather maps, and weather forecasts.
Abbe was appointed chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service in 1871 – that the time this was part of the U.S. Signal Corps.
On February 19, 1871, Abbe personally gave the first official weather report. He continued to forecast alone for the next six months, while he worked to train others. Abbe demanded precise language in the forecasts and ensured that every forecast covered four key meteorological elements:
- Weather (clouds and precipitation)
- Temperature
- Wind direction
- Barometric pressure.
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