Your weather app runs on satellites, supercomputers and a retired science teacher who walked to his rain gauge at 7 a.m. every day for 50 years

September 23, 2026

By Kim Komando

I love this story, and I think you will, too. Let’s start by opening your weather app. That “normal high” for your town. The drought map. The number that decides whether a farmer’s crop insurance pays out this year. Where do you think it comes from?

A lot of it comes from Ray. (👋🏻, Ray!)

Ray French lives in Gouverneur, N.Y., near the Canadian border. Since 1975, he has walked outside at 7 a.m. and written down the high, the low, the rain and the snow. Blizzard, thunderstorm, Christmas morning. Seven o’clock. His wife, Lauren, puts it plainly: “Whether it was storming or nice or not, 7 o’clock in the morning, he’d be out there.”

Fifty years. Do the math, and that’s north of 18,000 mornings. He also taught earth science, biology and anatomy. The man practiced what he taught.

🌡️ The oldest network in America

Ray is one of more than 8,700 volunteers in the National Weather Service’s Cooperative Observer Program. Congress created it in 1890. The records in Ray’s county go back to 1831. Before any of that, Thomas Jefferson kept a nearly unbroken weather log from 1776 to 1816, and the program’s top honor still carries his name.

These folks aren’t paid. There’s no test. They promise to show up and get a rain gauge and thermometer. Their readings flow into the same federal database that feeds your forecast, sets your town’s “normal” temperature, backs up flood maps and, believe it or not, gets cited in court.

Satellites see the whole planet. They can’t tell you it snowed 4 inches on Ray’s porch. Ray can.

👧 The next observer is 11

This summer, the Weather Service handed Ray the John Campanius Holm Award, one of its highest honors for observers. Then he did something better than accept it. He stepped aside.

His son, who lives 5 miles away, has an 11-year-old daughter. Ray: “I thought, wouldn’t that be fantastic to have her learn how to do it, pass it on and enjoy weather.”

So it’s three generations and one rain gauge. Grandpa maintained his streak for 50 years. His son keeps it now. And his granddaughter is learning the 7 a.m. walk. Some families hand down a watch. The Frenches hand down the weather.

Ray says he could still do it himself. “It’s fun, I enjoy doing it.” Fifty years in, and he’s the only person I know who actually likes talking about the weather.

This story first ran on the local news in Watertown, N.Y., on WWNY 7 News and ABC50. I’m making sure the other 49 states hear about Ray.

Want in? The Weather Service is always looking for observers, especially in rural spots. Start at weather.gov/coop, then contact your nearest forecast office. Fair warning: It’s a 7 a.m. commitment, rain or shine. Mostly rain.

📩 Send this to someone who checks the weather app 12 times a day. Now they know who to thank.