Clifford J. MacGregor (23 February 1904 - October 1985) was a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

Arctic explorer Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...

and

naval aviator Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves '' navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seaborne aviation encompas ...

Education

MacGregor went to College in Michigan.

Career

MacGregor was in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

until 1926 where he was trained to pilot

Zeppelins A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

at the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy shipyard and was historically important for nearly two centuries. Construction of the original Philadelphia Naval Shipyard began during the American Revolution in 1776 at Front ...

. MacGregor was a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

in the

US Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

and returned to active duty during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a PBY Squadron

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. He had left the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

only 15 years earlier. After his military service he worked for the weather bureau. In 1930 MacGregor was posted to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

for the establishment of the first Arctic weather observation network for Alaskan Airways Weather Service. He was then appointed to the

Point Barrow Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at , south of the North Pole. (The northe ...

, Alaska Meteorological Station as Commander of the U.S. Arctic weather expedition for the Second

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

(1932–33). While in Alaska MacGregor formulated a theory that Northern Hemispheric weather was bred in the Arctic. MacGregor captained a boat in the 1935 California-Hawaii yacht race. MacGregor was assigned to the

Newark Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union County, in the U.S. stat ...

Weather office before taking a leave of absence to lead his own

Arctic Expedition This list of Arctic expeditions is a timeline of historic Arctic exploration and explorers of the Arctic. 15th century * 1472: Didrik Pining and Hans Pothorst mark the first of the cartographic expeditions to Greenland * 1496: , venturing out ...

from July 1, 1937, through October 4, 1938 to

Etah, Greenland Etah is an abandoned settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northern Greenland. It was a starting point of discovery expeditions to the North Pole and the landing site of the last migration of the Inuit from the Canadian Arctic. Geography T ...

. It was MacGregor and his expedition that first proposed the need for a network of Arctic weather stations. In 1939, MacGregor was stationed at the Weather Bureau, in Horseheads, NY. MacGregor retired in

Milanville, Pennsylvania Milanville is a village in Damascus Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. Geography Milanville is located along the Delaware River and the New York border north of Narrowsburg, New York Narrowsburg is a hamlet (and a census-de ...

References

Sources

*Inglis, Robert: "A Scout Goes North", 1938 *MacGregor, Clifford J.: "Monthly Weather Review", October 1939 *Vogel, Hal: "Ice Cap News", Nov-Dec 1977 *Vogel, Hal: "They Brought Their Own Storms", 1977

External links

MacGregor photographMacGregor Arctic Expedition; Monthly Weather Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Clifford J. 1904 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American explorers Explorers of the Arctic People from North Slope Borough, Alaska People from Wayne County, Pennsylvania