KCIDWX:
Sorry to not address you by surname,
It is interesting to have someone who did live in the era of going to take readings 'manually' and to hear about that.
I had a couple of guys I knew who, when I arrived here in 1976, who worked for the Flight Service Station, and did similar and then recorded the loop that was broadcast to the pilot advisory frequency, and also as a real human behind the mic, would give updates on demand over the air to the pilots and also you could call and get a wx briefing before a flight. I sure learned a lot from their interactions. But with consolidation, the station at KEAU was closed and they remotely did their work from across the state at Green Bay, plus the demand was down with all the computer stuff available, too, for information. But there was nothing like a one on one briefing. Too bad some pilots didn't make use of it.
The other thought I had was if you have ever read a book called The Children's Blizzard? The time frame was 1888, I believe, and I was astounded at the sophistication of weather observation at the time, when the guys entrusted with doing it, did it.
There was a series of stations and relays from the Midwest all the way up towards Canada, I believe, and those were forwarded by telegraph to Washington, DC, if I recollect, correctly.
The observer in St. Paul was known for his dedication going out even in heavy rain or bad winter weather to get very careful observations, without fail, and also was interested enough to study the data that he was seeing come down from further out stations. Part of the problem was that some of the 'observers' were dry lab-ing it, and falsified or observed poorly.
The thought that prediction was being done based on upstream areas, and that the patterns seen based on data collected were used to predict what might be coming was astounding to me. At best, I thought at that time someone might make some wild assed guess and maybe make a few notes. This was a century and a half ago and very earnest attempts were being made by dedicated chaps to undertake the study of weather and prediction.
If you're familiar with the book, you'll know how well the author writes. If you're not familiar, it is WELL worth getting and reading of the blizzard and the terrible price that the pioneers paid for their trying to settle and farm the area.
Dale