He is widely recognized as the original director of the National Hurricane Center even though that position would not be created during his lifetime.
[1] The son of a farmer, Norton was born in Womack Hill, Alabama.
[2] He was drafted into the Army near the end of World War I, and later attended a Signal Corps' meteorology program at Texas A&M College.
In 1943 the forecast center was moved to Miami, Florida to establish a joint hurricane warning service with the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy.
He died in 1954 after a twelve-hour stint forecasting for Hurricane Hazel,[3] and was succeeded by his understudy, Gordon Dunn.