{"id":1199,"date":"2026-04-29T20:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:33:00","slug":"one-of-americas-oldest-weather-observatories-shows-people-the-science-behind-our-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/?p=1199","title":{"rendered":"One of America\u2019s oldest weather observatories shows people the science behind our climate"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Amanda Joly, right, gives a tour to Naomi Jang, left, and Miles Abel, center, at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Laura Martin Agudelo\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Matthew Douglas, the observatory’s chief weather observer, holds a psychrometric calculator while in his office at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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The sun rises at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Matthew Douglas holds a sun card, which shows the duration of sunlight for the previous 24 hours, at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Matthew Douglas reads a record of atmospheric pressure in his office at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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A gauge indicates the wind speed and direction inside the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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A Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder operates at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Anemometers record wind speed and direction at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Mercury barometers measure atmospheric pressure at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Amanda Joly reads a graph detailing wind data at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Matthew Douglas, the observatory’s chief weather observer, reads temperature and humidity from the thermometers and a psychrometer outside the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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A cyclist rides up a road leading to the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, with a view of downtown Boston in the background, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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Matthew Douglas, the observatory’s chief weather observer, annotates a weather chart in his office at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Milton, Mass. (Laura Martin Agudelo\/MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing via AP)<\/p>\n

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MILTON, Mass. (AP) \u2014 Perched in a tower atop a hill, Matthew Douglas climbs a staircase and emerges from a hatch on the roof, where a heavy glass ball in a metal cradle has burned a thin streak into a strip of paper, recording the previous day’s sunlight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s part of a routine he and other weather observers at Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, a weather station 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Boston, have followed every day for the last 141 years. Using largely unchanged analog tools, they have built a continuous record of temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind and other measurements that can feed weather forecasts and scientific research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMy routine is the same every day,\u201d said chief weather observer Douglas, who has worked there since 1997, sporting a dark blue sweatshirt with the name of the observatory on the front. \u201cThe only thing that changes are the numbers and the weather itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Hill is the nation\u2019s oldest continually operating weather observatory, according to executive director Alex Evans. Since 1885, staff and volunteers have relied on many of the same instruments, including mercury and alcohol thermometers, hygrometers that use human hair to measure moisture in the air, and that glass sphere on the roof tracking the hours of bright sunshine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Keeping the same tools in the same place for nearly a century and a half, Douglas said, means that if they spot a change in weather patterns, they can be sure it\u2019s real and not a result of new instruments measuring data differently than the old ones. Having a \u201ctried and true database\u201d as a reference is very important for climate research, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing and The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As climate science has come under fire from the Trump administration, budget cuts and layoffs have swept through federal weather institutions since 2025. Blue Hill, as a private nonprofit, avoided much of this maelstrom. However, its continuing work is not a given. Funding opportunities are limited in this political environment, Evans said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Hill\u2019s work, though seemingly outpaced by modern technology, serves not just to keep weather records, but also to connect ordinary people to climate science.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A continuous weather record in America makes climate change visible<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Few weather observatories in the U.S. are as old as Blue Hill, and fewer still continue to collect data manually. Though similar methods are still used by networks of volunteers across the country that feed data to the National Weather Service, weather observatories \u2014 both private ones and those affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration \u2014 have largely adopted automated digital systems since at least the 1990s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Hill sends a daily summary of its observations to the National Weather Service, which chief scientist Michael Iacono said may contribute to weather forecasts in some circumstances, and monthly summaries to the National Centers for Environmental Information, where they can be distributed to climate researchers. Local television meteorologists also receive the daily summaries and may use the observations in their broadcasts in rare cases, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Inside Blue Hill\u2019s round tower, which stands three stories tall with castle-like notches at the top, two weather observers, Douglas and Amanda Joly, share an office filled with the results of their daily work. Boxes with sun cards line the walls, wind-speed charts drawn on EKG paper fill the cabinets and computers store the spreadsheets where Douglas and Joly meticulously record temperature and humidity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Having records that stretch back over 100 years \u201cis really unique,\u201d said Chris Fiebrich, a meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma. This \u201cdataset is golden,\u201d he said, because climate change involves slow trends so \u201cyou can only see that clearly if you have measurements that go way back, from before we had satellites\u201d and other modern equipment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Hill\u2019s records show, for example, a 5-degree Fahrenheit (or about 2.8-degree Celsius) increase in the average annual temperature at the observatory since 1885, and that two local ponds remain frozen during winter nearly three weeks less than they did then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Observers can also spot the impact of climate policies. Since the 1990s, Blue Hill has recorded an uptick in bright sunlight duration after it reached a low point in the 1980s. Because air pollutants like particulate matter interfere with sunlight, cleaner air means more sunshine, so this uptick can partly be traced back to the Clean Air Act \u2014 a federal law passed in 1970 and amended in 1990 to improve air quality by reducing emissions of pollutants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A third of Americans believe climate scientists understand \u201cnot too well\u201d or \u201cnot at all well\u201d whether climate change is happening, according to a Pew Research Center survey from 2023. Trump called climate change \u201cthe greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world\u201d in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly last September, and has sought to undermine climate science.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At a time when \u201cthe word \u2018climate\u2019 is politically demonized in some circles,\u201d said Alan Sealls, president of the American Meteorological Society, places like Blue Hill can be \u201ca small part of many possible solutions\u201d to make weather and climate science relatable to people, including children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Blue Hill connects people to science<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The road to Blue Hill Observatory is a winding asphalt track that weaves through forest and borders a ski lift; making the drive, one needs to carefully wend between hikers and dog walkers. At the peak, visitors can enjoy the westward view over the treetops or slip through an open arch into the observatory\u2019s courtyard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Annie Hayes, a local from Milton who visited Blue Hill in mid-March with her husband and two children, said that seeing how observers collect data builds deeper trust in the science, which otherwise can seem \u201ca little bit of a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The mercury barometers in the observers\u2019 office \u2014 one of which the observatory believes to be the oldest such instrument in active daily use in the United States \u2014 are a case in point. \u201cIf somebody\u2019s standing there seeing it while you\u2019re explaining it to them \u2026 it becomes a little less scary,\u201d said chief scientist Iacono.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Hill\u2019s barometers, which measure atmospheric pressure, consist of glass tubes and small containers of mercury \u2014 a shiny, silver-white liquid \u2014 housed in a wooden case on the wall. As air presses down on the exposed mercury, it is forced up the tubes, and how far it travels reflects changes in atmospheric pressure. This is where the pressure unit \u201cinches of mercury\u201d comes from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another instrument popular with visitors is the Campbell-Stokes recorder, used to measure hours of bright sunshine. Its glass sphere, mounted in a curved metal frame, acts as a magnifying lens, focusing sunlight onto a paper card and burning a streak along it as the sun moves through the sky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As she pointed to the glass sphere on display in the history room, Amanda Joly, Blue Hill\u2019s deputy chief observer, explained that this recorder, which dates back to 1898, was stolen in 1993 and later recovered. The upside of that burglary is that, while a modern duplicate does the job on the building\u2019s roof, visitors are now free to interact with the old sphere \u2014 something kids love to do \u2014 and the observers don\u2019t have to worry about it affecting the measurements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hayes\u2019 family, which lives nearby, was checking out some rain gauges in the gift shop when facilities head Don McCasland told them about a new Blue Hill citizen science program, which will allow residents to collect and add weather data to a central database. The family plans to start using their rain gauge this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s \u201ca great way to involve the kids and get them excited,\u201d said Hayes. \u201cAnd who knows? Maybe they\u2019ll find an interest and want to pursue it on their own, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amanda Joly, right, gives a tour to Naomi Jang, left, and Miles Abel, center, at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, Saturday, March 14, 2026,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"aspect-ratio:3%20\/%202","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1222,1224,1226,1223,1220,1225,1228,1229,1227,1221,1236,1237,1235,1233,1231,1232,1230,1234,1219],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rj","tag-alan-sealls","tag-alex-evans","tag-amanda-joly","tag-annie-hayes","tag-boston","tag-chris-fiebrich","tag-don-mccasland","tag-donald-trump","tag-matthew-douglas","tag-michael-iacono","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100923-member-choice-lifestyles-option","tag-product-30061-ap-massachusetts-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30101-ap-rhode-island-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30594-lifestyles-formerly-weekly-features","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32539-ap-online-science-news","tag-weather-observatory-boston-climate-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}