LITTLE MOUNTAIN — Margaret Sease-Jayroe was recently awarded the Thomas Jefferson award for her service as a National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer.
“Every year there is a select number of observers who are nominated and based on their record of community involvement and service and the quality of their weather readings that they send in, they are considered for different awards. The Jefferson award is given to no more than five weather observers throughout the country every year and is the most prestigious award that National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can give to a volunteer observer. She (Sease-Jayroe), for her outstanding achievements and outstanding service, was selected as one of the top five in the nation this year,” said Doug Anderson, observation program lead.
According to a NWS press release, Sease-Jayroe is the third observer to carry on her family legacy of volunteer service and is a previous winner of the Holm Award.
The Little Mountain station was established back in October 1893 by her grandfather Dr. John Marion Sease. Sease passed the torch to Elberta Sease in 1923, who served until 1962 when Margaret Jayroe, then a science teacher, agreed to continue taking daily weather observations (now numbering over 20,000) that continues today. With a virtually unbroken observational record stretching back 126 years, her weather station in Little Mountain is one of a very select few included in the U.S. Historical Climate Network (USHCN). Data from the USHCN is used to quantify national-and-regional-scale climate changes, and is considered the “gold standard” of weather records by researchers and the academic community for its completeness, accuracy and longevity.
The Little Mountain station is one of only 29 in USHCN stations in South Carolina, and is the ninth oldest in the state.
Some of her notable achievements include: Winner of the Holm Award (second highest in NOAA) in 1983, the fifth longest active serving station family among 4,334 active COOP stations, and around 11,000 inactive station records and she has served for 56 of station’s 126 years, the longest period in family and station history.
Sease-Jayroe has also observed the highest temperature of 107 degrees in June 2012 and lowest temperature of -2 degrees in January 1985. The wettest day, with 7.35 inches in 24 hours was observed by Sease-Jayroe on October 4, 2015 and the snowiest day she observed 8.3 inches on February 16, 1969.
Following the presentation of the Jefferson award, the Jayroe family was also presented with a Family Heritage Award which recognizes their 125 years of service to the NWS Cooperative Program, earned in 2018.
Anderson said this award is a way to recognize the family’s service to the nation.
“When a family takes on a cooperative weather station and has a long record of giving daily weather observations and readings to the NWS they will be recognized at 50, 75, 100, 125 years and so on. It’s a way for us to recognize their long service to the nation, the information is very important to us, not only for our daily operations and just regular forecasting, the rainfall data is very important for us for agriculture forecast, fire weather forecasting and the obvious for drought and flooding,” he said.
He added that the data gathered is used every day and is also used by climate researchers to determine if climate change is occurring or not.
“Stations such as the Jayroes that the data extends back so long, now it’s 126 years, that’s like the gold standard for them to be able to look at and quantify what has been happening with weather patterns and climate patterns in the Little Mountain area. Not too many families have reached the milestone that they’ve reached at 126 years and counting,” Anderson said.
Little Mountain mayor, and Sease-Jayroe’s daughter in law, Jana Jayroe said receiving these awards will help give people a sense of history.
“She is very proud of her family being able to do it and I think it gives people a sense of history, a lot of times with everything going on in the world we kind of lose the fact that somebody has been here this long and has been observing the weather this long, so I think it’s great,” she said.
Sease-Jayroe was honored to receive the award and credits her family for all of their help.
“It is an honor to receive it and on behalf of my family I thank you. It has really been a family affair, you couldn’t do it without family to help you,” she said. “I feel very honored, but when I can no longer do that, and I’m getting to the place where I can’t, I’m going to miss it. It’s a part of life like brushing your teeth, eating breakfast, going to bed at night, setting the thermometer.”
