August 12, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald

The coming weekend looks seasonable, with partly cloudy skies and light winds. Late Sunday, colder air will begin moving into the county, bringing rain with it. Monday will be the day to watch. More than an inch of rain is expected in the village, with heavier amounts possible where thunderstorms pass across the county. The new weather pattern will also bring cooler temperatures and a good chance of rain on most days through the remainder of next week.

I am pleased to report that all the parts for our weather radio station have at last been assembled. We had expected to make our first test on Monday, but considering the rain and thunderstorms in my own forecast, we have decided Tuesday would be the wiser choice. On Tuesday at noon, tune your wireless set to 220 meters for the first broadcast of WGMW and listen for the ringing of the brass handbell from the weather tower. After all these months of delays, damaged parts, meetings, and explanations to commissioners and councilors, I hesitate to predict that everything will work on the first attempt. I will predict the weather instead.

In other news, Miss Fjell has invited me to accompany her to the Minnesota State Fair in early September. I have never attended a state fair, and she assures me this is a deficiency in my Minnesota upbringing that ought to be corrected.

Sad news comes from Lake Erie, where ten bathers drowned after being caught by a powerful undertow. Reports say the lake appeared calm before a great swell suddenly rolled ashore and carried bathers into deeper water. Several of those lost were unable to swim. It is a terrible reminder that a lake may look peaceful from shore while something quite different is happening beneath it.

R. C. Emery of the St. Paul Dispatch also visited the village last week during his journey through every county in Minnesota. Mr. Emery told me he was glad he saved Cook County for last, as otherwise he feared he would have been unable to properly appreciate the scenery in the other counties. Having lived here these past seven months, I find no reason to dispute his conclusion.

There was also considerable enthusiasm during the Fort William and Grand Marais baseball game, including cries of “King George” and “Prince of Wales” directed toward our Canadian visitors. For the record, your town weatherman participated in none of this heckling. I was occupied with the game.

With the radio station finally ready to carry my voice beyond the hill, I have been thinking about what exactly a weatherman ought to say once people can hear him. John Ruskin wrote that “the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” That seems a good rule for broadcasting as well as living. A radio may carry my voice farther, but it will do little good if I have not first looked carefully at the sky.

Ruskin goes on to say, “To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion—all in one.” I remain opposed to changing my official title to weather prophet.

Editor's note: The photo is from Hihiman at Wikimedia and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. It shows a A 1926 Telefunken 3 tube TRF radio that was manufactured in Germany.