Association of American Weather Observers

The Association of American Weather Observers was a group of amateur weather observers from around the United States. Their aim was to educate the public on weather awareness and to simply share stories among themselves on recent extreme weather that they viewed at their location.

The AAWO originally began in 1983 in Westwood, New Jersey as a group of weather enthusiasts came together in October of that year to create the organization. The AAWO disbanded in 1993 due to conflicts of interests. In 2005, a new weather organization under the same name was created to try to bring back what once existed within the old AAWO. Unlike the old organization, the new AAWO has yet to create a President and Board of directors. The AAWO that was established in 1983 and ended in 1993 is in no way affiliated with nor associated with the later organization that was established in 2005. However, some who were prominent members of the first AAWO had shown support for the new surge in bringing back the organization.

When the AAWO began in 1983, their motto was "Education, Communication, Cooperation" and opened the door for amateur weather observers from all over the United States to communicate with each other via the American Weather Observer newspaper publication. Before the AAWO there was no nationally recognized organization for the amateur weather hobbyist to share stories and observational data among each other. The group not only had individual memberships, but also had a lengthy list of affiliate organizations that were mostly local or regional groups from within the U.S.. The restart of the AAWO in 2005 had the same basic plans as the old group had in 1983. One of the differences between the group created in 1983 versus 2005 is, in 2005, the American Weather Observer publication was owned and operated by the AAWO, where the publication created in 1984 was a separate entity owned by the Belvidere Republican in Belvidere, Illinois, and only affiliated themselves with the AAWO organization created in 1983 as the newspapers official network.

Belvidere, Illinois, in the format of a newspaper called the American Weather Observer (AWO). Weather-related stories and weather observations recorded by the membership would be the major content of the newspaper.

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