Every Wednesday at 8 a.m. on the dot, Arlene Cole has called The Lincoln County News to send in the weather report.
Now at 96, Cole has retired. Her last report was in the Thursday edition of the paper. After spending more than 60 years monitoring and logging temperatures, rain, snow and more, she said it was time to stop before the weather gets too harsh in the winter.
“I decided it was a good time to quit,” Cole said. “No good time, really, so this is as good as any.”
It was in 1965 when Cole officially started recording the weather, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided a weather station for her yard on Academy Hill Road. Every evening at 5 p.m., she recorded the temperature and measured precipitation levels.
The same year Cole was equipped with the weather station, she started providing the weather reports for The Lincoln County News.
On May 13, 1965, she logged the high temperature in the area was 65 degrees, the low 43 degrees. In her notes, she marked that there were showers throughout the afternoon and evening.
Not only did she send in a weekly report to LCN, but she also sent a monthly findings chart to the National Weather Service, a division of NOAA. In 2010, NOAA official John Hayes sent a letter of recognition to Cole for 45 years of service and her contribution to the organization’s understanding of climate change.
“Your observations over the last 45 years prove your deep level of commitment to public service and are a lasting and important contribution to the NWS, research, and private sector communities,” Hayes said in the 2010 letter. “More specifically, they have helped us to understand and solve problems related to climate change, commerce, transportation, and agriculture.”
Cole also has received five awards throughout her time recording weather for NOAA.
Just over six decades later, Cole said it is time to put the pencil down. As she gets older, it has become harder for her to check the rainfall and snowfall outside.
“I don’t work very fast, and I live here alone, so I would have to go and get it myself,” Cole said.
Throughout her time of monitoring the weather, the way to do it has changed. When she first started the weather reports for LCN, she would have to go outside every day to manually operate and check the weather station provided by NOAA.
Sometime in the early 1980s, she said, the organization came back to her house to install an updated system. After that, she was able to look at the temperatures through a machine in her kitchen. Despite the new technology, the original weather station sits in the same place.
Calling herself “old fashioned,” Cole has kept a log of almost every day since her start, reflecting years of service to not only the county but the nation’s understanding of weather.
She compared the dry summer the county experienced this year, with a lack of rainfall, to a dry year in 1947, when she graduated from Lincoln Academy. Her knowledge and memory of more than six decades of monitoring the weather has allowed her to see it change and compare it to the past.
In addition to providing the weather report, Cole wrote the “Newcastle History” column for more than 20 years. Once a month, readers were able to enjoy a piece of the town’s history, whether it was recalling the shipbuilding industry on the upper Damariscotta River or friends from the past.
Cole’s extensive knowledge on the area’s history comes in part from her participation with the Newcastle Historical Society. She and her husband, George Cole, were some of the founding members of the organization when it started in 1998.
Since then, she has had numerous books published, including “Between Two Rivers,” a 2003 publication written for Newcastle’s 250th anniversary. Her columns from LCN can be found in two books, “History Tales of Newcastle, Maine” and “More History Tales of Newcastle.”
There are still a few years of stories left that potentially will go into a third book, she said.
As she heads into official retirement, Cole doesn’t plan on stopping monitoring the weather for herself and continues to help with the historical society. When it comes to advice for whomever takes on the role of weather reporter next, she just said she wishes them well.
“I wish them the best of luck and hope they can find somebody,” Cole said.
This story appears through a media partnership with The Lincoln County News.