(DES MOINES, Iowa) State Climatologist Harry Hillaker retires this week, after a 37-year career of keeping track of temperatures, rain, snow, drought, and storms.
Hillaker has been looking back at his records, and some unusual weather events such as floods in 1993 and 2008, and a drought in 1988 that he says generated more interest from the news media and others than just about any other weather story.
Hillaker tells WHO Radio News he started keeping rainfall records when he was kid growing up in Texas. He made a career of it in Iowa, and plans to continue keeping records. He says he'd invite others to do the same, saying you can never have enough weather data.
The next State Climatologist has not been named yet.
(Photo from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship)