Boston Flora

Tag: CoCoRaHS

  • Community Collaborative: Rain, Hail & Snow Network

    If you are looking for a fun and purpose-filled project that you or the whole family can enjoy from the convenient location of your own backyard join the ever-growing nationwide ranks of CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network) volunteer precipitation monitors. 

    The saying “Rain doesn’t fall the same on all” really proves to be true. How often have you seen it rain in your neighborhood and a few blocks away not a drop has fallen. If you get the chance, please take a moment to tell a friend or neighbor about this exciting grassroots effort of citizens measuring precipitation right in their own backyards.  It’s easy to join, takes only five minutes a day and is a fun way to learn about this wonderful natural resource that falls from the sky.  Your observations continue to give scientists an ever clearer picture of where and how much precipitation falls throughout our communities.


    What better way to start your day than getting outside, checking your rain gauge and reporting your findings to a database that will be used in real time by several agencies including the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). If your mornings tend to be hectic, you can have an impact by providing weekly rainfall and general condition reports. Warning! Once you start monitoring rainfall you may become an expert on drizzle, downpours and drought. Otherwise you might just find an enjoyable pastime that connects you to the weather happening in your own and your community’s backyard.  

    CoCoRaHS (pronounced KO-ko-rozz) is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities. By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. The only requirements to join are an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can affect and impact our lives.

    Our Web page provides the ability for our observers to see their observations mapped out in “real time”, as well as providing a wealth of information for our data users.

    For more information, please click here: Information about CoCoRaHS

    If you would like to sign-up as a volunteer observer and become part of our expanding network, please click here: “Join the CoCoRaHS Network“.    

  • Call for Citizen Scientists To Help Gather Rainfall Data

    CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. 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). By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. It operates now in all fifty states. The network originated with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 thanks in part to the Fort Collins flood a year prior. In the years since, CoCoRaHS now includes thousands of volunteers nationwide. This is a community project. Everyone can help, young, old, and in-between. The only requirements are an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can effect and impact our lives.

    Each time a rain, hail or snow storm crosses your area, volunteers take measurements of precipitation from as many locations as possible. These precipitation reports are then recorded on www.cocorahs.org. The data are then displayed and organized for many of our end users to analyze and apply to daily situations ranging from water resource analysis and severe storm warnings to neighbors comparing how much rain fell in their backyards. CoCoRaHS is used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals. The National Weather Service, other meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, USDA, engineers, mosquito control, ranchers and farmers, outdoor & recreation interests, teachers, students, and neighbors in the community are just some examples.

    CoCoRaHS has several goals (as stated in its mission statement): 1) provide accurate high-quality precipitation data for our many end users on a timely basis; 2) increasing the density of precipitation data available throughout the country by encouraging volunteer weather observing; 3) encouraging citizens to have fun participating in meteorological science and heightening their awareness about weather; 4) providing enrichment activities in water and weather resources for teachers, educators and the community at large to name a few. To learn more about how to get involved (all you need is a rain gauge!), visit www.cocorahs.org.