Francis appointed new weather observer

Mike Francis of Imperial has taken over the position of National Weather Service (NWS) Coop observer for the Imperial area.
According to the NWS website, more than 8,700 volunteers take observations on farms, in urban and suburban areas, National Parks, seashores and mountaintops.
Francis’ predecessor, Cory Schuller, held the position for 14 years. Schuller, his wife Jodie and daughter Madison are moving to Alma.
Being neighbors with Francis at the southwest edge of Imperial, Schuller asked him if he would take over the position.
“He just asked me and I said, ‘yeah, I suppose,’” Francis said.
NWS employees installed equipment at Francis’ house along the 15A Spur earlier this month.
Not all of the equipment was installed properly at first, so Francis was unable to get accurate readings on some of this month’s earlier rainfall.
“But Cory called me and taught me how to read the rain gauge using a yardstick,” he said.