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April brought respite from dry spell

The National Weather Service ingests data everyday from 900 automated stations in the United States. Since we are such a large nation, that's just not enough info for weather forecasting and climate calculation.

NWS is also bolstered by 10,000 volunteer observers in the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program. Started in 1890, the program gathers info from farms, urban and suburban areas, National Parks and even seashores and mountaintops. There are observers in every state and U.S. territory from Palau to Puerto Rico. People interested in joining that corps of weather buffs are...