When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers went to the Bismarck post office in 1965 seeking someone to monitor daily rainfall, letter carrier Warren Yates suggested his wife.
Louise Yates had taken some weather-related courses at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and had a passing interest in meteorology. Her husband thought she’d like the responsibility of compiling precipitation records and offered her services, unbeknownst to her.
“He came home that day and said he told them about me,” Louise Yates said.
Fifty years later, Yates is still checking her rain gauge each day and sending measurements to the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. She’s done that for more than 18,500 days now.
“I wanted to keep my word,” said Yates, 85.
On Thursday, the weather service honored Yates for her half-century as a weather observer in a ceremony at Unity Baptist Church in Bismarck.
Meteorologist in charge Steve Drillette from North Little Rock and Mike Asmus, a representative of the weather service’s Southern regional headquarters in Fort Worth, gave her the Edward H. Stoll Award for her service.
The award is named after an Elwood, Neb., man who was a cooperative weather observer from 1905 until his death in 1981.
“It’s amazing,” weather service meteorologist Brian Smith said of Yates’ tenure. “Our observers provide a significant benefit. It’s rare to have an independent, dedicated observer like Mrs. Yates to do this for that long of time.”
The weather service has 120 observers across Arkansas who compile daily weather statistics. Some, like Yates, record only rainfall amounts. Others gather daily temperatures, hourly precipitation, cloud cover and other meteorological data.
Established in 1871, Clarksville’s weather observer station is the state’s oldest. Mount Ida in Montgomery County began its station in 1872, and Little Rock began tracking weather at an observer station in 1874.
Yates’ 50 years as an observer is currently the longest an individual has served in that role in the state, Smith said.
Often, the job has been passed on to family members. In Danville, generations of one family have kept weather records in the Yell County town since the early 1940s, Smith said.
The Bismarck station was needed when the Corps’ Vicksburg, Miss., district began building DeGray Lake. Officials wanted hydrological records kept so they could regulate the lake’s depth and stream flow from its reservoir on the southern end of the lake.
“My husband told them I’d love to do it,” Yates said. “Then he came home and asked if I was even interested in doing it.
“I love doing it, but I never expected to do it this long.”
At times, Yates enlisted her husband for the daily weather chore. On snowy winter days, she would pour snowfall from her gauge into a pan and melt it on a fire her husband built in the fireplace. He’d pour the melted snow back into the gauge so she could measure the total precipitation.
She’s been handling it alone since her husband passed away 10 years ago.
“I’m slowing down a little bit,” Yates said. “But every day at 7 a.m., I go outside and check the gauge still. When it rained before, Warren would sometimes go out there with an umbrella for me.”
Yates’ position as an observer in the small unincorporated town about 20 miles southwest of Hot Springs has given her a sort of celebrity status. She receives scores of calls from people around the area wanting to compare their rainfall totals with hers.
“You’d be surprised at all the people who call me during the rainy season to compare my totals … with their own,” she said.
“She’s been in our community all her life,” said John Payne, a clerk at the Bismarck post office. “Everyone knows her.”
Payne said she doesn’t talk much about her job as an observer when she visits the post office, but she will comment on the weather in general.
“I can believe she’s done this for 50 years,” Payne said. “She is very careful and meticulous. I’m sure she has done a great job.”
Yates said she felt “embarrassed” about Thursday’s ceremony.
“I’m a little shy,” she said. “I kind of dreaded the attention, but I’m honored.”
She said she’s enjoyed her job as an observer and suggested others try it if an opportunity is available.
“If you’re interested in nature, I’d recommend doing this,” she said. “It is a dedication. Every morning at 7, I check the rain gauge, every day of the year.
“But I said I would do it, so I did.”