feb 9, 1870 - Signs Joint Resolution providing for the Secretary of War to take meteorological observations a give notice “of the approach and force of storms.” (16 Stat 369) A new agency was formed in the Army Signal Service called the “Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce.” In 1890 that Division became the Weather Bureau in the Department of Agriculture
Added to timeline:
Date:
feb 9, 1870
Now
~ 156 years ago