History with ‘Hud’: 149 years of Wilmington weather observations
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A lot has changed from the early Wilmington weather observations to those taken today.
This past Saturday marked 149 years since the first complete set of continuous weather records, including precipitation and temperature observations, were taken in the Port City on April 1, 1874. The records were first written down at the Bank of New Hanover Building which once stood at the corner of Front and Princess Streets. The location has since been torn down and is an empty parking lot today.
Before those complete records were kept, sporadic weather entries were tallied as early as December 1, 1870, when the U.S. Signal Corps started to keep periodic snowfall records, measuring 2.4 inches the initial year.
More complete, daily precipitation records kicked off the next month in January 1871 at the former Riverboat Landing Restaurant, which is now the site of Floriana.
Temperature records were added three years later. They continued to be collected at the Bank of New Hanover Building before moving up N. Front Street to the 1st National Bank in 1881.
Once again, it didn’t take long for the weather office to relocate, shifting across town to Fourth and Chestnut Streets in 1890 at the no-longer-standing Old US Post Office Building.
This location proved to be a bit more permanent, lasting 41 years until its eventual movement to the roof of the U.S. Customs Building on Water Street in 1931.
That building still stands today, but the weather office moved to the airport in 1951, then known as Bluethenthal Airfield.
Weather obs. continued to be taken at that location until the office relocated in 1979 to Hewlett Drive before its most recent move to 2015 Gardner Drive on October 23, 1994. That’s where the office has stood ever since, continuing over 54,000 days of complete weather observations day after day.
