The National Weather Service presented Grand Meadow resident James Blomgren with a 15-year service award for his contributions to the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer program.

Since March 1, 1997, Blomgren has documented temperatures, precipitation and snowfall at his home.

The daily temperature, precipitation and snowfall data Blomgren collects becomes a permanent part of the climatic record for the local area and nation.

The information is used extensively by many other sectors including the National Weather Service and state climatologists. The information is also used by numerous others in the public and private sectors for agricultural planning and assessment, engineering, environmental-impact assessment, utilities planning and litigation.

The Grand Meadow station is part of the U.S. Historical Climate Network. This is a select group of stations that have at least 80 years of data and was created in response to the need for an accurate climate record for climate research.

Tom Stangeland, a hydrometeorological technician out of NWS-La Cross, presented the award.