Cleveland Abbe

Cleveland Abbe (December 3, 1838 – October 28, 1916) was an American meteorologist and advocate of time zones. While director of the Cincinnati Observatory in Cincinnati, Ohio, he developed a system of telegraphic weather reports, daily weather maps, and weather forecasts. Congress in 1870 established the U.S. Weather Bureau and inaugurated the use of daily weather forecasts. In recognition of his work, Abbe, who was often known as Old Probability for the reliability of his forecasts, was appointed the first head of the new service. Cleveland Abbe was born in New York City, and grew up in the prosperous merchant family of George Waldo and Charlotte Colgate Abbe. One of his younger brothers, Robert, became a prominent surgeon and...