Hazen visualized a weather service with college-trained TheĬhief Signal Officer General William B. In 1870 the US Weather Service had been organized as part of the Army Signal Corps. I then made up my mind that I would seek some field where I could tell big stories and tell the truth.' Then I studied Blackstone for a while and soon learned that I was not adept enough at prevarication to make a successful lawyer. 'I first studied to be a preacher, but decided that I was too prone to tell big stories. He initiallyĮntertained the idea of becoming either a preacher or a lawyer. Isaac Cline had earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree. He worked odd jobs on campus to pay for his tuition. Studied mathematics, chemistry, physics, Latin, and Greek, the foundation of a classicalĮducation. Reading Verne inspired Cline to dream of writing a book 'on some scientific subject that would be permanently helpful to man.'Īt the age of sixteen, Isaac Cline left home to attended nearby Hiwassee College, where he Interest in books, particularly the works of Jules Verne whom Cline saw as a prophet of sorts. At six, young Isaac was trapping muskrat, mink and otter to earn extra money. Joining Isaac in the Galveston office that fateful day in 1900 when the Great Hurricane struck.Ī bright and inquisitive boy, Isaac began attending the small local school at age four. His younger brother Joseph would follow Isaac's footsteps and become a meteorologist Isaac was the oldest of eight ClineĬhildren. Sold this farm and leased a place at nearby Bat Creek. His birth, Jacob Cline owned a small farm however, soon after the Civil War ended, Jacob Cline Isaac Monroe Cline was born October 13,ġ861 near Madisonville, Monroe County, the firstborn of Jacob and Mary Cline.

The nine-decade story of Isaac Cline began in the hill and valleys along the western foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee.

Even today, Cline is remembered by the US National Weather Service (NWS) by bestowing an annual award honoring his name for 'operational excellence of line employees in the delivery of products and services supporting and enhancing the achievement of NWS strategic and operating plans.' While some may disparage his tropical storm forecast that fateful week, Cline was recognized as one of the top flood forecasters of his time and a pioneer in weather forecasting. And although the storm had a profound effect on his life (losing his pregnant wife to the storm surge), it encompassed but a few days of his distinguished career which covered over half a century. Galveston Hurricane of 1900 (due mostly to the best-selling Isaac's Storm by Eric Larson). The name of Isaac Monroe Cline is best known today for his association with the Great

Weather Doctor's Weather People and History: Dr Isaac M.

Galveston hurricane meteorologist