LOST & FOUND: Your daily weather report began with Army sergeants.

Before 1870, the United States had no national weather service. On February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution that gave the job to the Army.

On the morning of November 1, 1870, observer sergeants at stations across the country took the first synchronized weather readings and sent them by telegraph to Washington. Officials even worked with telegraph companies to give the reports priority so they arrived fast.

In 1891 the service became the civilian Weather Bureau, and since 1940 it has been part of the Department of Commerce, known today as the National Weather Service.

Which do you trust more today: the forecast on your phone or the sky outside?

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