Melrose resident has kept tabs on weather for 55 years

From wind to rain to hail, with plenty of sunny skies in between, the weather changes plenty in eastern New Mexico. Grady Bright hasn't.

For 55 years, Bright has been a constant source of information for the National Weather Service, calling in whatever's happening at his home in Melrose.

He was recognized Tuesday at his home by members of the NWS's office in Albuquerque, who presented him with the Benjamin Franklin Award for 55 years of service.

As one of nearly 180 observers around the state, Bright precedes his 6 p.m. dinner with wife Mary Lois with a check of his weather equipment. He reports the highest and lowest recorded temperatures, along with any precipitation measured, to the NWS.

It's a simple job, but Kerry Jones of the National Weather Service said it's hard to find people who consistently do the same simple job every day. Jones said about half a dozen observation points have been in operation for more than 55 years, "but it's never been the same individual reporting."

Bright, a retired manager at Melrose Grain and Elevator and a former village mayor, took over the weather station in Melrose on Oct. 3, 1957, and has been doing the 6 p.m. check ever since — with rare instances of giving the duty to a relative when he can't be in town.

Observers such as Bright are necessary, NWS meteorologist Amanda Martin said, because there's often no other way to ascertain the weather in sparsely-populated areas. If you hear Melrose mentioned by a television meteorologist, Martin said, that information almost certainly came from Bright.

In addition to the thermometers in the front of the house, and the recording box on the kitchen table, Bright has a rain gauge next to his garden full of corn, squash, black-eyed peas, peppers and deer tracks — "I even left a chair so the deer has somewhere to sit," Bright jokes.

The rain is checked with a thin ruler, and the ruler is coming out pretty dry over the last few years. He recalled 4.1 inches of rain Aug. 11, 1981, and recalled a week that nearly equaled the 6.65 inches Melrose has received for all of 2012.

It's years like this where it's toughest to know the weather, with Bright noting that the droughts of the 1950s were difficult too.

"You're close to the farmers when you're in the grain business," Bright said. "Your heart aches for them when it's dry and you rejoice when there's rain for them. You sure don't want to see them hailed out."

Observers are generally given a different level of recognition every five years until reaching the Franklin designation, Jones said, and the next award would be a 100-plus Year Family Heritage Award. The job of observing is often passed down over generations.

Some observers are paid, while others are volunteer. Bright receives $24 per quarter, or $8 per month, for his services. It's not a huge amount, he said, "but when it takes you one minute to check the thermometer, those are pretty good wages."

The job might get someday passed to daughter Deanna Roach, grandson Seth Bright or son-in-law Randy Leslie. Grady and Mary Lois have four children, 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.