Boston Flora

Tag: NOAA

  • 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“.    

  • Monday, February 8, 6:00 pm – From Doom and Gloom to Hope: Innovations in Ocean Science and Policy

    Monday, February 8, 6:00 pm – From Doom and Gloom to Hope: Innovations in Ocean Science and Policy

    The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, U.S. Science Envoy, University Distinguished Professor and Advisor in Marine Studies, Oregon State University, will speak as part of the Prather Lecture Series at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, on Monday, February 8, beginning at 6 pm.

    Jane Lubchenco was the first woman to be appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Drawing on her experience at the helm of NOAA from 2009 to 2013, Lubchenco will discuss how this government agency advances and utilizes scientific research on weather, climate, and oceans to guide its services and improve environmental stewardship in the United States. She will also highlight new scientific advances that are transforming attitudes, behaviors, and policies that affect ocean health and the future of humanity, and discuss her role as the Department of State’s first U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage. Free and open to the public.

    Lubchenko

  • Monday, March 30, 6:00 pm – Science in Policy and Politics

    The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, U.S. Science Envoy, University Distinguished Professor and Advisor in Marine Studies, Oregon State University, will speak as part of the Prather Lecture Series on Monday, March 30, beginning at 6 pm, on Science in Policy and Politics.

    Jane Lubchenco was the first woman to be appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Drawing on her experience at the helm of NOAA from 2009 to 2013, Lubchenco will discuss how this government agency advances and utilizes scientific research on weather, climate, and oceans to guide its services and improve environmental stewardship in the United States. She will also highlight new scientific advances that are transforming attitudes, behaviors, and policies that affect ocean health and the future of humanity, and discuss her role as the Department of State’s first U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean.

    Presented in collaboration with the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, this free program will be held at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.  Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.