National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

 

CoCoRaHS

 

 

Click here for a power point presentation about CoCoRaHS

CoCoRaHS stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS began with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 in response to the damaging Fort Collins flood in 1997.

The CoCoRaHS network is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to report rainfall, snowfall and hail information. Observers can be individuals, who take readings in their backyard, or school classes that take readings at their school. The measurements are made using high quality 4 inch rain gauges and hail pads. The information is used by a wide variety of organizations such as: The National Weather Service; television meteorologist; hydrologist; researchers; emergency managers and many others. Become a piece of the meteorological puzzle and join the other 8,000 volunteers from across the country and become a CoCoRaHS observer.

Please visit the CoCoRaHS website at www.cocorahs.org to learn more about the program. You can click on the "Join CoCoRaHS" link to become an observer. You can go through the on-line training or attend a training class to be on your way to become a part of the meteorological community.

The NWS Raleigh has been actively utilizing CoCoRaHS data for a variety of uses including real time precipitation and data analysis, severe weather operations, and post storm reviews. Some more specific examples are shown below: