From the Harvester, November 1967
Ag Weather Service will provide forecasts and freeze
information
The Federal-State Agricultural Weather Service will provide Florida
growers with forecasts and freeze information in critical agricultural
areas beginning Nov. 1 (1967).
Bulletins will be transmitted three times daily over teletype lines
covering the state's winter agricultural areas. The line extends from
Gainesville to Daytona Beach, southward to Lakeland, Fort Myers and
Homestead.
Information relayed on the line covers district weather forecasts,
shippers' forecasts, severe storm bulletins, five-day outlooks, hourly
radar reports on rainfall areas, and crop damage reports from Florida,
California and Texas.
Growers, cooperatives and others can have the teletypers installed to
receive the forecasts and data.
A federal-state market news service is being added for the first time
this year and will include market information of fruits and vegetables,
shipping point information, cannery utilization of Florida citrus, rail
and truck shipments, terminal market information, citrus auctions and
other marketing facts.
The market news will be added to the agency’s teletypewriter
circuit Monday through Friday and will enable growers to get information
one or two days earlier than by mail in the past.
Cost to subscribers is $40-50 a month depending on equipment
needed.
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If you're curious ...
The Federal-State Agricultural Weather Service was established in
1935 for the citrus industry. It included frost warning districts in
Orlando, Winter Haven, Wauchula and Bradenton.
The forecasting unit, consisting of three meteorologists, a
technician and a secretary, was located at Lakeland City Hall. The staff
worked year-round in this enterprise, headed by the U.S. Weather Bureau
and the University of Florida. In 1975, nearly all of the forecasting
operation was moved to Ruskin to the newly opened office of the National
Weather Service.
– Information from “A Guide to Historic Lakeland,
Florida” by Steve Rajtar,
2007
Learn more about the man behind the forecasting at the Federal-State
Agricultural Weather Service, “Mr. Forecaster” and 1980
Citrus Hall of Fame inductee Warren O. Johnson, here.
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