Family documents 100 years of weather

Mutters receive award

A Humboldt-area farmer and his family are being recognized for their faithful recording of climate data over the past 100 years.

The Mutter family’s thermometers have soared past 40 C in the summer, and dipped just under –50 C in the winter. Their precipitation gauges have taken in more than 10 centimetres of rain in a day. And they’ve journalled numerous “exceptional weather events,” from tornado-force winds to ice storms.

For their volunteer efforts spanning the past century, the Mutters were presented with a recent Award of Merit by Environment Canada.

“It’s very nice. I was happy to have contributed to some small part of it,” Cyril Mutter, 78, said in an interview Monday.

Beginning in 1911, Mutter’s grandfather, Pius Sr. offered to host a weather station and collect daily readings. The tradition was taken over my Mutter’s father, Fridolin. Fridolin collected the data nearly without fail for 63 years until his death in 1981. They would journal the readings daily and mail it to Environ- ment Canada offices once per month. The only gap in the records occurred for a few weeks in the late 1940s when Fridolin was hospitalized and required stomach surgery.

Cyril assumed the responsibility for the next 30 years.

“Yes, it was entirely voluntary, but you never looked at it as a big thing,” he said.

He said it got easier when he began emailing the daily data about 15 years ago.

Cyril Mutters retired from farming and moved into Humboldt last year. As there will be no one left to continue the data collection, Environment Canada plans to install an automated system, Mutters said.

Mutters said his father never told him why they decided to take on such a task, and he said he never asked.

“It was just something you do,” he said.

In a statement Monday, Environment Canada officials praised families like the Mutters across Canada who take the time to contribute to a fuller picture of the Canadian climate.

“Environment Canada is grateful for this family’s incredible dedication and hard work, especially during the severe weather we often encounter in Saskatchewan,” said Darren Tessmer, regional manager with Canada’s Meteorological Services.

“I WAS HAPPY TO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO SOME SMALL PART OF IT. ” CYRIL MUTTER