CoCoRaHS Observers Urgently Needed

Public Service discussions such as RACES, ARES, Skywarn, etc.
kc5lei
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Joined:Mon Sep 29, 2014 4:15 pm
CoCoRaHS Observers Urgently Needed

Post by kc5lei » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:15 pm

CoCoRaHS – ( http://www.CoCoRaHS.org ) National Precipitation Monitoring Network Urgently Needs Additional Volunteers to Measure Precipitation in your neighborhood!

I’ve often wondered after a Skywarn net just how much rain fell out of the storm we just followed? And at times there is no net, but I still wanted to contribute scientific useful data and reports but just didn't know how.

Now, in your very neighborhood, you can volunteer and measure precipitation in your own backyard as part of CoCoRaHS - the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network which has grown to over 15,000 volunteer observers covering every state of the country. More volunteers are urgently needed in Texas! It’s fun, easy and only takes five minutes a day.

“We are pleased that this simple backyard monitoring program has become so popular,” said Nolan Doesken, the Colorado State Climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. “These volunteers are providing scientists around the country with excellent precipitation and hail monitoring statistics for tracking weather patterns and water supplies.”

The CoCoRaHS network engages volunteers of all ages from grade schoolers on up to folks in their 90’s to document the size, intensity, duration and patterns of precipitation by taking simple measurements in their own backyards. Volunteers only need a cylindrical rain gauge, some training and an interest in weather to participate in the program. The specific rain gauges that CoCoRaHS uses are available from several distributors on the network’s website (http://www.cocorahs.org) for $29 plus shipping. The site also offers on-line training.

Data from CoCoRaHS volunteers are now being routinely viewed and used by many professions and organizations including the National Weather Service, meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities, insurance adjusters, agribusinesses, engineers, science teachers and many more. Data are used for many applications such as water resource planning, severe storm warnings, teaching earth science, predicting crop yields and for assessing hail damage.

Something that surprises me is that despite the very strong Skywarn program we have Dallas, Kaufman, Rockwall and VanZandt Counties are poorly represented with Observers. That is why I have been appointed as Coordinator for Kaufman, Rockwall, and Van Zandt Counties and co-Coordinator for Dallas County.
Your help is urgently needed. Please sign-up on the website or contact me for more details.

Marvin W. Huddleston, KC5LEI - Mesquite 940
stormycocorahs@gmail.com
http://www.CoCoRaHS.org

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