Phil Hart is proud he and his staff at the Gateway Store are helping put Kabetogama on the map.
Hart, who owns the store in Kabetogama with Ellen Hart, volunteered 10 years ago to report weather details on a daily basis to the National Weather Service in Duluth.
In April, he received an award as a Cooperative Weather Observer for the weather service for his reporting over the past 10 years. He was recognized by the weather service, the Secretary of Commerce, and the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“We felt a sense of accomplishment or a sense of pride that we do this on a voluntary basis and maybe in a small way, it benefits someone or something,” he said. “Snowmobilers know how much snow we have on the ground, otherwise they’d have no way of knowing.”
The nearest other official weather reporting stations are in International Falls and Orr. Hart is glad he can give people in the Kabetogama area a more local weather report, instead of relying on weather forecasts from the Falls or Orr.
“This way, (the weather service) can keep track of the locality of the snow and how we differ from the Falls or Orr, and how it changes,” Hart said.
The weather work is more than just recording a temperature or the wind with equipment. There are some things machines can’t do, he explained, and that’s where people come in and analyze Mother Nature.
An example is the recent snow. Hart or someone on his staff takes snow samples to measure the moisture. He melts the snow in hot water, takes the moisture out with his equipment, and gets a reading. Measuring devices include gauges, temperature sensors, and snow boards for snowfall.
“You could have an inch of wet snow or an inch of dry snow,” Hart said. “This tells us the actual precipitation and moisture.”
The moisture and precipitation levels help meteorologists forecast conditions and the potential for floods come spring, Hart explained.
Every day, Hart or his staff report their findings to the meteorologists of the National Weather Service in Duluth. It allows the area to keep data on average temperatures and precipitation for the month, season, or year. He’s proud when he sees Kabetogama mentioned on the weather report during the television news every night, he said.
“Sometimes it’s a pain in the neck to go out and measure the snow, but it does get some publicity for the whole area,” he said.
