Continuing an 82-Year Tradition

By Colleen Gundlach

There has been a lot of discussion in Norfolk about the town’s ability to keep young people here and provide them employment. There are, however, families whose contribution to the town has spanned generations and provided not only a livelihood but a way of life. The Russ family is one example of just such a multi-generational Norfolkian family.

Russell Russ is well known as Norfolk’s weatherman, but he is actually the second generation to hold this title. His father, Darrell Russ, was the forest manager of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) for many years but was also a weather observer for the Norfolk weather station.

Edward (Ted) Childs started the Norfolk weather station at his family home, Coolwater, as part of his master’s thesis for the Yale University School of Forestry, a study of the microclimatic influence of hemlock trees. When the thesis was completed, Childs decided to keep the station running and began making daily observations. These have been made every day since January 1, 1932.

In 1942, the Coolwater station was officially recognized by the National Weather Service (NWS) as a Cooperative Weather Observer Station, officially named Norfolk 2SW (signifying that the station is two miles southwest of the Norfolk Post Office, which is the method used to name weather posts). It was later designated a Reference Climatological Station, one of only 21 across the country.

Darrell Russ worked closely with Childs at the weather station and in 2002 was recognized by the NWS with an award for over 50 years of service as a weather observer.

Russell Russ was, he says, “born and raised in Great Mountain Forest ,“ frequently following along with his dad as he made his daily 8 a.m. trip to the weather station and other GMF duties. During his college years at SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Russ came back to Norfolk during summers to intern at GMF, though he, like many Norfolk young people, did not immediately come back to town after graduation.

Russ worked in landscaping and construction management, but “my heart was not in it.” Not long after his father had a severe stroke in 2000, Russ returned to Norfolk to help his mother care for his dad and to continue the weather station work that had been so much a part of his father’s life. “I am huge into tradition,” he says. “I wanted to keep the weather station going, and found that it became very important to me, too, like it was for my father.” Russell Russ had come home.

As a part-time GMF employee initially, Russ helped out where he was needed and later took on GMF’s management of the Yale Forestry Camp, which is used by various groups from May through October. He now also works on maintaining the forest roads and property lines, in addition to his other forestry duties.

The commitment to be Norfolk’s weather observer is a responsibility he takes very seriously. Readings must be taken consistently, at the same time each day. So, seven days a week, holiday or not, Russ makes the trip to Norfolk 2SW to make observations, record them and report them on to the NWS and other sources.

While Russ has added a computerized system in his office for reference and comparison, the actual reading and recording is still performed manually at the original Coolwater site on Windrow Road. The manual method is the official reading, as established by the NWS. The readings and records are now transferred to Excel worksheets, but the actual handwritten readings are carefully kept, and they are the official records. “Sometimes the old ways are still the best ways.”

Russell’s wife, Kim and their children, Taryn, age 18, and Jack, age 15, are very supportive. In fact, Jack often accompanies his father on the morning weather rounds and also volunteers at GMF. Could this be a third generation of Russ family weathermen in the making?

To see a recent NBC interview featuring Russell Russ, click here.