23 March 2013

World Meteorological Day

What was the weather like on the day you were born? Did clear skies greet you, or did you arrive under a cloud? Depending on where that momentous event happened it may be easy to find out about the weather online or you may have to seek a published source. Sometimes the easiest access is through the archives of the local newspaper.
Canadians are fortunate to have freely available online data from Environment Canada. Anyone born in Ottawa and many other Canadian locations 50 years ago today has access to hour by hour weather observations listed at http://goo.gl/T1Mej
Fifty years ago saw the inauguration of the World Weather Watch being marked this year by the theme of the annual World Meteorological Day “Watching the weather to protect life and property".
Canada's weather service, initially focused on storm warning for shipping on the Great Lakes and Atlantic coast, goes back much further. The father of the service, George Templeman Kingston (5 Oct. 1816 - 21 Jan. 1886) was a professor at the University of Toronto.  His entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online gives no burial place, a pity. J Brian Gilchrist came to the rescue by way of an old posting on an Ancestry message board
George Templeman Kingston ... died Toronto Jan 21, 1886 aged 69 years. Placed in the Chapel Crypt on Jan. 23, 1883 - Rev. Septimus Jones officiated. Interred on May 6, 1886 in a plot bought by (his son) the Reverend George Malcolm Kingston in "D' Hill side Section of St. James' Cemetery, Toronto. His name is not one of the 4 names inscribed on the tombstone.


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