Kelley O’Mara
Anaheim has Disneyland, Santa Monica has the Pier and Woodland Hills has Pierce College. Yes, we host carnivals and have a huge attendance rate, but the little-known similarity among these three places is a mutual interest in the weather.
Few people realize that for more than half a century the Pierce Weather Station has collected much of the official weather data for the Woodland Hills/Canoga Park area.
The weather station has the most sought-after archive of data in the Los Angeles Basin, according to Dessa Garton, cooperative program manager for the National Weather Service.
The station’s website, www.piercecollege.com/offices/weather/summery.html, points out that there are only three days of missing data in more than 20,000 days. The lost days are due to the late-night activities of Halloween vandals in 1960.
The station has not been moved in that half century, with the exception of a three-meter shift of the weather shelter unit in 1974.
William Russell, a geography professor who has directed the use of the weather station for 18 years, pointed out, “[If] you move a weather station around and keep moving it, you’re not going to get a good consistent reading.”
There is no intent to move the station in the future, either. Its whereabouts have even been considered when planning Pierce construction sites.
The Pierce station is one of the oldest in the nation and has been known in the weather world for years. Data from the station published in “Climatological Data” is labeled “Canoga Park Pierce College.” Station data is also published daily in the local Daily News.
“I personally enjoy looking in the newspaper and seeing that Pierce College is getting credit, because USC’s weather data is often cited. It’s good to see a much smaller community college being able to contribute for the West Valley,” said Joseph Eisenlauer, associate professor of anthropology and archeology at Pierce.
Russell said that he is often approached by lawyers, Highway Patrol, LAPD, the Los Angeles Community College District, the National Weather Service and various news media asking to use weather station data. Several organizations use the information to assess the type of air conditioning units they should install.
The data has become incredibly easy to access. Steve Woodruff, a certified weather observer, put months into compiling all the information and making it accessible via the station’s Web site. Now anyone can view more than 50 years of temperature and precipitation data.
On top of that, a new fully automated weather station was installed last December. At any given time, anyone can call the automated station to obtain the current weather conditions at Pierce. The number for this service is 818-710-3363.
According to Russell, among the Pierce Weather Station’s litany of accomplishments is that “We provide for the community.”