With the resumption of a storm-warning service more or less as FitzRoy conceived it and the reintroduction of daily weather forecasts for the public, the fight over forecasts was won. Never again in peacetime would the Meteorological Office withdraw these services. The fight over forecasts was not, however, the only important development in the Office in the years after the Royal Society took charge. A threat to Kew Observatory had to be addressed, too.

Changes in the Role of Kew Observatory

For as long as the British Association had managed Kew Observatory (since 1842), the cost of sponsoring and maintaining the Observatory's work had proved a drain on the Association's finances. The Association's Council decided in 1869 that the time had come to discontinue the Observatory's financial support. Money would be provided for a further two years, and the connection between the Association and Kew would then cease.