Idaho's weather can be hard to track. From neighborhood to neighborhood, skies can look vastly different, but the National Weather Service (NWS) has a volunteer program making it easier to track.
The NWS Cooperative Observer Program spans 8,700 volunteers across the country, helping to track forecasts in remote locations.
One of Idaho's oldest is in Emmett, run by Wayne Rexford. Every morning at 7, he relays data for NWS, which helps them track conditions in Gem County.
WATCH: Learn more about the COOP program
Rexford's work spans almost half a century.
“I get to do this, I don’t have to do this,” Rexford said.
Eric Johnson, who works with NWS, understands that these sights bring vital information to their offices in Boise. He says that without volunteers, this data would be absent from important forecasting.
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“The manual observations taken in certain locations across the U.S. has been instrumental for agriculture, business and all government agencies that use the data.”
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The program volunteers track several data points such as daily temperature highs and lows, precipitation amounts, wind speed and soil moisture. Throughout the year, the data points shift depending on the season.
Sharp asked Rexford about his favorite part of the job, and Rexford said it's getting to witness what Mother Nature has to offer every morning.
“And occasionally, God has a paint brush out here, has a paint brush out here that we have a sunrise that's something to look at,” he said.
