Soon after McDonogh opened, the newly founded National Weather Service enlisted the School to contribute to its efforts by reporting on the local area. Julius Kruttschnitt, one of the first teachers to come to McDonogh with Principal William Allan, was responsible for forwarding weather reports to the Signal Officer in Washington D.C. He obtained the School’s first instruments (thermometer, barometer, snow gauge, and dry and wet bulbs), and students conducted weather observations three times a day from the north wall of “Old House” on Foxleigh, which was located in front of where Rollins Hall is today.
The weather reports were also featured in early issues of The Week. Initially, students published temperature, rainfall, and wind data, but eventually, the reports included narratives about happenings on campus in various weather conditions. Handwritten notes were added at the bottom of many of the pages of data mentioning phenomena such as sighting aurora borealis, lunar halos, and the first budding of lilacs in January.
