Do you check the weather daily or even weekly? Maybe you’re someone who jokes at times about the accuracy of the weather forecast? Either way, there is a great opportunity to get involved with contributing to weather forecasts which help you, your neighbors, or individuals who work the land such as farmers and ranchers make more informed decisions.
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS – pronounced KO-ko-rozz) Network was founded as a volunteer program for community members to report daily precipitation. Utilizing low-cost measurement tools and an interactive website, CoCoRaHS provides the highest quality data for natural resource management, education, and research applications.
Who uses CoCoRaHS?
CoCoRaHS data are used by meteorologist, floodplain managers, insurance adjusters, farmers and ranchers, teachers and students, and recreationists to make informed decisions, such as water resource analysis and severe storm warnings. CoCoRaHS data also can prove useful when comparing historical precipitation levels at certain times of the year to current precipitation levels.
This information can be utilized in planning year to year as trends are discovered.
Steps to Volunteering
CoCoRaHS
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network
What is it and how to volunteer
Tyler Williams
University of Nebraska Extension
Jeremiah Vardiman
Caleb Carter
David Keto
Windy Kelley
University of Wyoming Extension
MP-131.1
Dec 2016
Setup the Gauge and Monitoring
Ideally, a volunteer finds a place at their home or work where precipitation falls without interference.
The precipitation data should be collected at the same time each day, ideally at 7 am, and reported as soon as possible. However, CoCoRaHS volunteers are busy people, so this might not always be feasible. Think about your standard day and try to find a few minutes in a day when you can consistently read and report the data – recognizing there will be days when there are changes to your routine.
Can you go on vacation and not worry about reporting precipitation? You can! That’s the great part about being a CoCoRaHS volunteer. You can file multi-day reports to cover the time on vacation or, if the gauge is at work, you can report weekend precipitation events, or lack of, on Monday.
As a CoCoRaHS volunteer you can have the feeling that you have made an important contribution that helps others. Because of variable rainfall patterns a dense network of CoCoRaHS volunteers is important for monitoring drought and flood conditions. By providing your daily observation, you help to fill in a piece of the weather puzzle that affects many across your area in one way or another. Join your friends and neighbors - it is free and easy to join!
Program Goals
Who can volunteer?
To Use Aurasma
1 • Download and install the free Aurasma app from Play Store or iTunes Store to your phone or tablet.
2 • Click on Aurasma icon.
3 • Type “UWAG” in the Search box at the top of the screen. Click on the UWAG channel, then choose Follow.
4 • Click on the open square symbol at the bottom of the screen. Point your phone or tablet at the image that has the Aura icon and watch the magic! Double-clicking enlarges the video to full screen and enables watching the video away from the Aura image.
Thank you to USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub, eXtension i-3 Corp initiative, and CoCoRaHS volunteers in Beaverhead County, MT for their contributions to this effort.
Issued in furtherance of extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Glen Whipple, director, University of Wyoming Extension, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071.
The University is committed to equal opportunity for all persons in all facets of the University's operations. All qualified applicants for employment and educational programs, benefits, and services will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law and University policy.
For more videos: http://bit.ly/cocorahs_video