Keeping track of the rain

CROTHERSVILLE - Ivan Donnell has spent the past 10 years reporting figures from the National Weather Service rain gauge in Crothersville.

"I've always been interested in weather," Donnell said.

His work for the NWS began when Donnell was working for the town of Crothersville. A man who had been reporting monthly rain numbers to the NWS had quit.

"I tried it for a while and I kind of liked doing it," Donnell said. "They asked if I could keep doing it."

Once a month, Donnell takes precipitation data from the gauge near the town's sewer plant off Bethany Road. The gauge holds 10-15 inches of water, and it measures every 15 minutes. In the winter, snow data is recorded.

Earlier this summer, Ed Terrell from the NWS honored him for his years of service.

Each month, Donnell pulls the tape from the machine and sends it on to the weather service.

Even though the gauge holds up to 15 inches of water, Donnell said it rarely gets to the top.

"On a normal year, like this year has been, we're lucky if we get an inch of rain a week," he said.

Donnell is also responsible for the upkeep of the gauge. One way of doing that is applying mineral oil.

"It keeps algae down in the summertime and it keeps it from freezing up in the wintertime," he said.

The gauge is solar powered, and there is a direct phone line from the gauge to the NWS in Indianapolis.

Donnell said it's important to collect the data.

"If they couldn't find somebody to do it, they would be coming down here (from Indianapolis) once a month doing this," he said.

Bradford Herold, a hydro-meteorological technician with the weather service, said the agency is thankful to have people like Donnell doing what they do.

"Precipitation data are important to the mission of the NWS," Herold said. "Through a national network of cooperative weather stations, the NWS gathers data for its day-to-day forecasts and warnings, as well as for publication and research."

Of the 11,000 stations in the program in the United States, about 250 are in Indiana. Donnell's data are also published by the National Climatic Data Center and used for research, agriculture, water resources and litigation.

"Through his dedication and perseverance, Ivan Donnell has provided the important service of maintaining an official recording rain gauge," Herold said. "Through his volunteer sprint, Ivan Donnell has provided an outstanding service to the people of Jackson County, the state of Indiana and the country. The NWS applauds his hard work and commitment."

Other than keeping up with the gauge, Donnell keeps tabs on the weather by watching The Weather Channel. The weather, however, got a little too close for comfort in 2005 when a tornado nearly hit his Seymour Road home.

Donnell watched as a tornado twisted trees at a home across the road, but his home suffered no damage.

He said keeping up with the rain gauge gives him something to do. After working for three years for the town, he went on to driving a forklift at Golden Castings in Columbus. After several years of working there, he had a heart attack in 2002. He went back to work in March 2003, but then had another heart attack.

Even though that's forced Donnell to stay home, he remains dedicated to reporting the figures to the National Weather Service.

"I told them I'd keep doing it as long as I was able to," he said.

Weather observers
Jackson County is no stranger to people helping the National Weather Service.
In addition to Ivan Donnell of Crothersville, Robert Zollman of Medora and Ruth Everhart have been collecting weather data for decades.