John Edgar Adamson: Waterloo Region Generations

Generation: 1

John Edgar Adamson was born 31 Dec 1867, Doon (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1 Dec 1952, Pomona, Los Angeles, California, United States; was buried , Pomona Valley Memorial Park, Pomona, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Other Events:

FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/218952040
Interesting: weather, agriculture
Eby ID Number: Waterloo-125889

Notes:

Frost Pioneer Passes

(Santa Barbara News-Press) Southland newspapers this week noted briefly the passing in Pomona of John E. Adamson, "known in this citrus community as the father of the fruit frost service." Few people outside of the Pomona community knew of Adamson's contribution until his death. That is an unfortunate fate which he shared with other civic-minded people.

Adamson became interested in developing a fruit frost warning service in the early days of the century. He expressed his interest by writing many letters to Washington, outlining needs for frost warning development. His work finally induced the Weather Bureau to send Frost Forecaster Floyd Young to California to inaugurate the service.

At the time, the idea of forecasting how cold it would be on a given night in a given citrus section was new and untried. It undoubtedly met with considerable ridicule.

Adamson's efforts resulted in what is recognized as one of the most efficient branches of the Weather Bureau. Its record of accuracy in its daily predictions during the frost season is unusually high. That is quite opposite, in the public mind, from the daily general weather forecasts of the Weather Bureau.

Citrus growers who listen religiously to the daily temperature forecasts are almost unanimously loud in praise of their accuracy. Citrus growers often wonder how one branch of the Bureau can be so consistently accurate and another branch so insecurate and haphazard.
Farmers and farm groups who have investigated the situation have been led to the belief that one succeeds because of careful attention to detail and to duty.

Adamson's ploneering in the fruit frost service has saved millions of dollars in citrus crops. Accurate forecasts of rain or sunshine are also of great value. to an even larger number of our farming population.

It may be that we need many more "Adamsons," expressing a determined interest in improving an operation of the Weather Bureau which, because of its inaccuracies, is declining in public esteem.