If you want to check the weather records for the Missouri – Mississippi River Valley, you can do so as far back as 1836. That was when a St. Louis doctor and scientist started keeping those records. He was a remarkable man, forced to leave Europe’s schools because of
what were called “democratic tendencies.” He was a memeber of thirty-five scientific societies at home and abroad, and an organizer of the first Academy of Science west of the Allegheny Mountains. On January 1, 1836, Dr. George Englemann set up a thermometer, barometer, and hydrometer in St. Louis, and started keeping history’s first regular weather statistics for the Missouri Valley region. It was a habit he continued for 47 years, three times a day. In fact, his devotion to keeping accurate records of the weather eventually killed him. His journals over those decades are the only reliable source of weather information we have for the Mississippi Valley for that time period.

AUDIO: AOWM Feburary 21, 2005 (mp3)