Thirty years after its original transmission from Montreal, the first Canadian Weatherfax chart was retransmitted from the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). In the Downsview auditorium among AES personnel and retirees, many remembered the first broadcast of the 300 mb analysis from the then Central Analysis Office (CAO).

ADM Jim Bruce noted that he was a forecaster at the CAO in 1953 and often worked all night to produce a satisfactory chart. Computers are now infinitely faster. Attending parallel ceremonies in Montreal, CMC director François Lemire telephoned greetings.

Each decade has had its own innovations: Weatherfax in 1953; then acquisition of computers, the G20 (1963), the CYBER CDS (1973) and the CRAY supercomputer (1983).

Present at Downsview were Don Smith; Jim McCulloch; Art Childs, communications head for the Met Branch in 1953; Paul Johns, retired director of Field Meteorological systems; and Bob Dodds, former chief of Weather Services.