Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

COLLECTION IS LOCATED AT THE STATE RECORDS CENTER. CONTACT ARCHIVES RESEARCH SERVICES FOR ACCESS INFORMATION, DIRECTIONS, AND HOURS.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Lowell L. Koontz Papers, 1951-2014. Accession 51326. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Lowell L. Koontz, Glen Allen, 2 June 2014.

Biographical Information

Lowell L. Koontz , a native of Rockingham County, Virginia, taught science in the Fairfax (Va.) County Public Schools for 31 years, retiring from teaching in 1999. Koontz began keeping weather observations in 1956 as a school boy in Rockingham County. He built his first weather station with his father in 1958, and reported daily to WSVA Radio and to the Daily News-Record newspaper (both in the Harrisonburg area). After graduating from Virginia Tech with a Masters in Education, he took a job teaching Earth Science at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County, and set up his second weather station there. A third station was established in the Bren Mar development of Fairfax County in 1979; it was moved to the Barcroft Hills area in 1986. This location was known as the Annandale station, and provided data for a weather information website started by Koontz in 1998. The site included weather observations, graphs, and weather news; severe weather warnings and discussion of forecasts for Northern Virginia; and local area records for temperature, rain, and snow. Koontz moved to Glen Allen, Virginia, in 2008 and established a new station there. He also started a new website (www.glenallenweather.com) which offered the same general types of information that the previous one had (but from the Glen Allen station), along with historical weather records gathered by Koontz for the Richmond area from various sources. As of June 2014, the station and the site are still in operation.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1951-2014, of Lowell L. Koontz , relating to his extensive collection of weather data, primarily in Rockingham County, Annandale, and Glen Allen, Virginia. Much of the material consists of information gathered from weather stations built by Koontz in these locations, and includes barograph charts, thermograph charts, hygrothermograph charts, wind charts, Nimbus records, digital photographs, and observations including temperature and precipitation totals. Also includes copies of historical Richmond-area weather records going back to 1819, obtained by Koontz from entities such as N.A.R.A., the U.S.D.A., the Smithsonian, and the U.S. Signal Service; and all files from Koontz's glenallenweather.com website through 20 May 2014.

Arrangement

This collection has been minimally processed, and for the most part remains in the order and housing in which it was received from the donor. The container listing is based on the one provided by the donor.