Tom Petty is being honored for his outstanding service in the Cooperative Weather Observer Program. He’s the 2011 recipient of the agency’s John Campanius Holm Award. He’s helped the National Weather Service for 35 years collect weather data for analysis.

This isn’t Petty of The Heartbreakers. He’s an Asotin resident who observes the sky at his home 14-miles southwest of town.

He started in June of 1976 reporting significant event precipitation for the Washington State Soil Conservation Service. He started providing data for Asotin Creek’s drainage when he was invited to become a Cooperative Weather Observer.

What do you do when you want to get out of the office? You obviously walk around WSU's Pullman campus and take pictures! That was the afternoon for Matthew Haugen, video journalist with WSU News.

He shared with KXLY: "I wanted to get out of the office for awhile."

We don't blame him. It was a cloudy day over Pullman, but better now to take advantage of the early Fall weather before snow begins to fall.

Some of the photos taken today will be retaken in a few months when snow blankets the ground.

Facebook: View the rest of the photos Haugen took this afternoon.

Next time you go to buy sunscreen, there may be more to read on the label!

Federal regulators will soon require sunscreen manufacturers to test their products' effectiveness against sun rays that pose the greatest risk of skin cancer.