Weather service honors Strong family

Toting a pail and a mercury thermometer, Selah Brewster Strong Jr. set out to record weather data on a small peninsula in Port Jefferson Harbor in 1885 -- and began a tradition his family continues.

Tuesday, the National Weather Service honored the Strongs, who have supplied the agency with weather records for four generations and are the longest serving family in New York and the Northeast.

The family's chief weather-watcher -- Setauket native William Strong Jr., the great-grandson of Selah Strong -- received a federal commendation at the weather service's Upton facility Tuesday.

The Family Heritage Award, which is reserved for families that have dedicated a century or more to the nation's welfare, describes the Strongs' 127 years of weather tracking as a "remarkable achievement."

But William Strong Jr. said his family's commitment to the weather is as much about tradition as science.

"It's certainly a family thing, and we're keeping it going from a family perspective," he said.

Selah Strong, of Setauket, passed his weather station -- located on his home's property off Brewster Lane on Strong Point -- to his daughter, Kate Strong, in the 1930s. She handed it to her nephew William Strong Sr., who gave it to Strong Jr.

SEE PHOTOSSnowstorms that buried LI over the past 100-plus years

They've monitored the weather through some doozies: The Great Hurricane of 1938 -- often referred to as the Long Island Express -- hurricanes Bob and Gloria, and Tropical Storm Irene.

Strong Jr. now lives in Stamford, Conn., where he runs a consulting firm unrelated to weather. He maintains the family's connection to the weather station through a family friend, Joe Stergakos of Setauket, who checks the station daily and reports the results to Strong Jr.

The equipment is only a slightly higher-tech version of the gear used by Selah Strong in the 1880s -- digital thermometers and a rain gauge.

The family's multigenerational commitment to weather data has been a boon to the National Weather Service's ability to track climate change, said Tim Morrin, observation program leader with the service.

"When we get observers who are doing it 30, 40, 50 years or more, that is really invaluable in terms of climate research," Morrin said. "This family started in 1885. The next generation was willing to take on this responsibility."

The Strongs are part of a program in which cooperative observers track the day's precipitation, and high and low temperatures, and supply the results to the National Weather Service.

The Strongs' commendation states that "the National Weather Service and the climate community salute four generations of dedicated COOP observers" with the heritage award.

Strong Jr. said he is trying to spur interest in weather in his son William Strong III. Said Strong III, 19, who attended Tuesday's ceremony: "I don't think I would want it to end here."