NIU and the city of DeKalb will receive plaques from the National Weather Service for their years of cooperative weather observation.

The plaques will be presented by Paul Dailey, the chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service for Illinois, at noon on Wednesday, behind Davis Hall.

The plaques will be presented to NIU President John La Tourette and DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow.

“NIU will be receiving a plaque for 25 years of cooperative weather observation,” said Eric Helgeson, NIU weather service director. “The city of DeKalb will receive one for 100 years of cooperative weather observation.”

Cooperative Program Manager William Buckingham will deliver a short speech at the ceremony.

Helgeson said this is all part of the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program.

He said the observation involves volunteers taking weather observations each day.

“For the first 75 years DeKalb residents took care of the observations,” he said. “For the last 25 years, NIU took over the observing.

“We tried to find out who did the observations 100 years ago, but it was so long ago that the people who knew are all dead.”

NIU’s plaque will be kept in a display case in Davis Hall.