Now you can let the National Weather Service know how much rain,
hail, or snow you measured in your backyard by joining the Community
Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network - CoCoRaHS. This new
program will help meteorologists and researchers study the
variability of precipitation across not only Southeast Mississippi...Southwest Alabama and Northwest
Florida, but the entire country. The accumulated data will be available to anyone with a use
or interest in precipitation data.
How did CoCoRaHS get started?
CoCoRaHS started in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1998 after a devastating flood. Researchers went back to look at the
precipitation data that led to the flood and found that the rainfall
had missed all the official gages! The Colorado State Climatologist,
Nolan Doeskin, developed a new volunteer observing network to fill
the gaps between official gages called CoCoRaHS. The network continues to spread across the United States and is available to everyone living in Mississippi...Alabama and Florida.
How can I sign up?
Please visit the CoCoRaHS web site at http://www.cocorahs.org to
learn more about the program and register your backyard or schoolyard
as an official reporting site. Once you register and begin to report,
your rainfall observations will become part of the record as well as
being plotted on maps of your county and state maps of Mississippi...Alabama and
Florida. You can view the maps and see how your observation fits in
with your neighbors involved in CoCoRaHS across the country. You are
also strongly encouraged to take the online training located on the
CoCoRaHS website that will show you proper siting techniques along with
other information about CoCoRaHS. If you have any questions, please
contact Jack Cullen or Gary Beeler at the National Weather Service
office in Mobile at 251-633-6443.