CoCoRaHS Is Here!
What IS CoCoRaHS?
There is a new way to let the National Weather Service know how
much rain, hail, or snow you've measured in your back yard! The
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network
is here. CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based
network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together
to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). The program
will help meteorologists, hydrologists, and researchers study
the variability of precipitation across Alabama,
and the accumulated data will be available to anyone with a use
or interest in precipitation data.
How did CoCoRaHS get started?
CoCoRaHS started because of a devastating flood that struck Fort
Collins, Colorado in 1998. When researchers went back to examine
the precipitation data, they discovered that the rainfall leading
to the flood missed all of the official gages. Colorado State Climatologist
Nolan Doeskin developed a new volunteer observing network to fill
in the gaps between official gages called CoCoRaHS.
Sounds great! How can I sign up?
There are three options available, depending on where you live
and the measuring equipment you have.
- To find out more, visit the CoCoRaHS
web site.
If you'd like to sign up, just visit the web site and click on "Join CoCoRaHS" to register your backyard or schoolyard
as a reporting site. Once you register and begin to report, your observations
will become part of the record and will be plotted on maps of
your county and state. You can view the maps and see how your
observation fits in with your neighbors.
If you decide to sign up, we encourage you to go through the online
training located on the CoCoRaHS
web site. It will detail proper gage siting techniques as
well as other program information. Note that you will
need to provide your own rain gage (you can purchase
one through CoCoRaHS, and more details can be found on the CoCoRaHS
site).
How can I find out more?
If you'd like to know more about local CoCoRaHS efforts, feel free
to contact Michael Garrison and Kristina Sumrall by email, or call the National Weather Service office in Birmingham at 205-621-3010.
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