How President Thomas Jefferson became one of America's early 'weather geeks'

Thomas Jefferson, best known as author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president, maintained meticulous weather records for five decades until shortly before his death in 1826. He logged 19,000 observations across nearly 100 locations, recording temperature, pressure, wind, precipitation, and natural phenomena twice daily with unwavering discipline. Jefferson's motivations were both scientific and patriotic—he used climate data to refute French naturalist Buffon's claims that North America's environment caused degenerative effects on life there.