Agriculture is entirely dependent on the weather. Droughts, freezes, floods, hail: all are threats to crops and livestock, and all directly affect the fortunes of farmers and ranchers. Since those farmers and ranchers comprised most of the store’s customers, weather was always important to the Fischers as well!

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), unpublished weather records from Fischer date back to 1887. It’s uncertain who recorded them, but seems most likely to have been Hermann II. There is also a notebook listing monthly rainfall entries from 1900 - 1915, and the annual rainfall totals from 1890 to present are listed
on the blackboard in the store. These unofficial observations would have been as much of a social topic as scientific data. One current member of the Fischer family remembers how local ranchers would gather at the store after a storm and compare to see who got the most rain. 

Eddie’s rain gauge and custom stand.

In 1939, Willie Fischer began keeping daily records as a volunteer weather observer, part of the US Weather Bureau’s Cooperative Observer Program. He served as an observer until he was 84 years old, when his nephew Eddie Fischer took over in 1952.
At the time, Texas was entering a historic drought that lasted until 1957- by some accounts, one that was worse than the Dust Bowl. Eddie’s comments on the monthly reports reflect the dire circumstances: oat and corn crops failing at ever- higher percentages, wells going dry, even the trees were dying. One of his final comments before the drought finally broke was “need rain to survive!” 

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Eddie served as observer until December 1976. In 1977, he received the Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor a Cooperative Observer can receive. He was one of only seven people nationwide who were so honored that year. To qualify, recipients must have already received a John Campanius Holm Award for at least five years, and have a minimum of 25 years of service. Eddie had 38 years of service as a NWS Cooperative Observer. 

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Charlene accepting a weather service award in front of the store.

Eddie’s oldest daughter Charlene Fischer took over as observer in 1977 and served until 2015. In 2004, she received the General Albert J. Meyer Award for 65 years
of family service as Cooperative Observers; in 2009, she received the Ruby Stufft Award for 70 years of family service; and in 2011, she received a John Campanius Holm Award for her personal achievement of 35 years of service. 

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In October 2015, Charlene’s sister Sandra Zlatkovich took over the weather observer duties, and continues to the present day with the gauges now located on her property. 

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Modern equipment currently used for recording observations.