Galveston National Weather Service

First weather service office in Texas, and one of first in the United States; established April 19, 1871, slightly over a year after Congress passed an act in Feb. 1870 creating the Public Weather Service of the United States under the Army Signal Corps. For a century the Galveston service has issued Gulf storm forecasts. It correctly posted warnings prior to Texas' greatest natural disaster -- the 1900 hurricane that left more than 6,000 dead -- but had its own office demolished (although records were saved). Its men shared the common sorrows of the city in losses of family members and property. In Sept. 1961 the first live and direct televised picture of a hurricane -- the famous and devastating Carla -- was broadcast from the Galveston station. This set a pattern for other radar-equipped coastal weather stations throughout the United States. Galveston is the only weather station directly on the Gulf Coast west of Florida. Although many meteorological stations have moved with the coming of the aviation age, this oldest Texas station has compiled charts for 100 years within a 5-block area. Incise on base: Galveston County Historical Survey Committee

Galveston National Weather Service is a historical marker in Galveston, Galveston County, dedicated in 1971. It is one of 283 historical markers documented in Galveston County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 373 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.3026, -94.7956 near Galveston. The nearest cataloged historic site is Galveston US Post Office, Custom House and Courthouse (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Model Laundry, First Lutheran Church, and House at 2528 Postoffice St..

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5167007473. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.