History of the National Weather Service

On October 1, 1890, Congress created the Weather Bureau. From the article:

"History of the National Weather Service

The National Weather Service has its beginning in the early history of the United States. Weather always has been important to the citizenry of this country, and this was especially true during the 17th and 18th centuries. Weather also was important to many of the Founding Fathers. Colonial leaders who formed the path to independence of our country also were avid weather observers. Thomas Jefferson purchased a thermometer from a local Philadelphia merchant while in town for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. He also purchased a barometer — one of the only ones in America at the time — a few days later from the same merchant. Incidentally, he noted that the high temperature in Philadelphia, Pa., on July 4, 1776 was 76 degrees. Jefferson made regular observations at Monticello from 1772-78, and participated in taking the first known simultaneous weather observations in America. George Washington also took regular observations; the last weather entry in his diary was made the day before he died.

During the early and mid-1800's, weather observation networks began to grow and expand across the United States. Although most basic meteorological instruments had existed for over 100 years, it was the telegraph that was largely responsible for the advancement of operational meteorology during the 19th century. With the advent of the telegraph, weather observations from distant points could be "rapidly" collected, plotted and analyzed at one location.

1849: Smithsonian Institution supplies weather instruments to telegraph companies and establishes extensive observation network. Observations submitted by telegraph to the Smithsonian, where weather maps are created.

By the end of 1849, 150 volunteers throughout the United States were reporting weather observations to the Smithsonian regularly. By 1860, 500 stations were furnishing daily telegraphic weather reports to the Washington Evening Star, and as the network grew, other existing systems were gradually absorbed, including several state weather services.
1860: 500 stations are making regular observations, but work is interrupted by the Civil War.
1869: Telegraph service, instituted in Cincinnati, began collecting weather data and producing weather charts.

The ability to observe and display simultaneously observed weather data, through the use of the telegraph, quickly led to initial efforts toward the next logical advancement, the forecasting of weather. However, the ability to observe and forecast weather over much of the country, required considerable structure and organization, which could be provided through a government agency.
1870: A Joint Congressional Resolution requiring the Secretary of War "to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent, and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern lakes and on the seacoast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms" was introduced. Congress passed the resolution and on February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law. A new national weather service had been born within the U.S. Army Signal Service’s Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce that would affect the daily lives of most of the citizens of the United States through its forecasts and warnings for years to come.
1870-1880: Gen. Albert J. Myer serves as chief signal officer, directing the new weather service.
1880: Upon the death of Gen. Myer, Gen. William Babcock Hazen takes over as chief signal officer. He serves until his death in 1887.
1887: Upon the death of Gen. Hazen, Maj. Gen. Adolphus Greely takes over as chief signal officer. He serves until his death in 1891.
May 30, 1889: An earthen dam breaks near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The flood kills 2,209 people and wrecks 1,880 homes and businesses.
October 1, 1890: The weather service is first identified as a civilian agency when Congress, at the request of President Benjamin Harrison, passes an act transferring the meteorological responsibilities of the Signal Service to the newly-created U.S. Weather Bureau in the Department of Agriculture.

A weather-sensitive sports event of that year: 15th running of the Kentucky Derby.
1891: The secretary of agriculture directs R.G. Dyrenforth to carry out rain-making experiments by setting off explosions from balloons in the air.

Weather Bureau becomes responsible for issuing flood warnings to the public; Telegraphic reports of stages of rivers were made at 26 places on the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Savannah and Potomac Rivers.

Professor Mark W. Harrington becomes the first chief of the Weather Bureau. He serves until 1895.
1894: William Eddy, using five kites to loft a self-recording thermometer, makes first observations of temperatures aloft.
1895: Secretary of Agriculture J. Sterling Morton appoints Professor Willis Luther Moore chief of the Weather Bureau. Moore served until his resignation in 1913.
1898: President William McKinley orders the Weather Bureau to establish a hurricane warning network in the West Indies."