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At 101, weather observer gets a place in the sun

In this 1930s photo provided by the Hendrickson family, Richard Hendrickson leans into the wind as a storm hits a Long Island, N.Y. beach. Hendrickson, who started recording temperatures when Herbert Hoover was in the White House, is being honored as the longest serving volunteer weather data collector for the National Weather Service for his 84 years of collecting information from his farm on eastern Long Island. (AP Photo/Hendrickson Family)
In this 1930s photo provided by the Hendrickson family, Richard Hendrickson leans into the wind as a storm hits a Long Island, N.Y. beach. Hendrickson, who started recording temperatures when Herbert Hoover was in the White House, is being honored as the longest serving volunteer weather data collector for the National Weather Service for his 84 years of collecting information from his farm on eastern Long Island. (AP Photo/Hendrickson Family) In this 1930s photo provided by the Hendrickson family, Richard Hendrickson leans into the wind as a storm hits a Long Island, N.Y. beach. Hendrickson, who started recording temperatures when Herbert Hoover was in the White House, is being honored as the longest serving volunteer weather data collector for the National Weather Service for his 84 years of collecting information from his farm on eastern Long Island. (AP Photo/Hendrickson Family)

By Associated Press 3 min read

BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) – It takes only a couple of minutes, twice a day, but 101-year-old Richard Hendrickson is fiercely proud that he has done the same thing for his country and community nearly every day since Herbert Hoover was in the White House in 1930.

The retired chicken and dairy farmer, whose home sits in the heart of the ritzy Hamptons, has been recording daily readings of temperature and precipitation on eastern Long Island longer than any volunteer observer in the history of the National Weather Service.

The Weather Service will honor Hendrickson on Sunday by naming its 80-year service award in his honor at a ceremony at its Long Island offices in Upton. Hendrickson, who is estimated to have tallied more than 150,000 weather observations, has provided invaluable data that helps meteorologists analyze impending storms and information that tracks long-term climate change and other trends.

“Volunteer observers are the bedrock of weather data collection,” said I. Ross Dickman, meteorologist in charge of the New York weather forecast office. “Richard has contributed thousands of weather measurements to build the climate record for Long Island, and after 84 years, holds the title of the nation’s longest-serving volunteer weather observer.”

Hendrickson, who still lives on part of the Bridgehampton property his family has owned for nearly a century, explained in an interview in the office where he compiles his data that agriculture and weather are inextricably linked.