The Cooperative Observing Program

< < Go Back

The Cooperative Observing Program

If you are interested, or if you need more information about the program, please call or e-mail George at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, GA. Phone number is 770-486-1133 extension 225.

Volunteer National Weather Service observers are given an official rain gage and temperature sensor to record and disseminate the official daily weather for their community. Qualifications for this position include;

A strong interest in Meteorology.
A good record keeper.
Dedication to duty.

Duties of the volunteer weather observer are;

Logging and disseminating daily temperature and rainfall readings.
Notifying the National Weather Service in Peachtree with any equipment problems.
Transmitting data to the National Weather Service during critical weather periods

The COOP (Co-Operative Observing Program) is a nationwide weather and climate monitoring network of 11,700 volunteer citizens and institutions observing and reporting weather information on a 24-hour basis. COOP observations form the backbone of temperature and precipitation (including snowfall) records describing U.S. climate!

To the left you can see an example of a COOP Observing station. The little white shelter box houses the instrumentation, such as the maximum and minimum theromometers. The circular structure to the left of the shelter box is the rain gage.

COOP MISSION : In addition to meeting the original 1890 agriculturally oriented mission to describe the climate of the U.S., today's COOP observations support many other applications of non-airport climate and weather data by industry, government, and individuals. These include:

NWS forecast and warning process
Drought assessment
Energy consumption models
Engineering, power plant, and architectural design
Recreation
Flood zone determination

Observations taken by COOP observers generally include both of the following parameters: 1) 24-hour maximum and minimum temperatures, and 2) 24-hour liquid precipitation amounts (including melted snowfall).

NATIONAL COOP HOME PAGE : Click here if you wish to visit the OFFICIAL NWS COOP Observer Program Home Page - site of the Nation's largest and oldest weather/climate observing network (1890 - Present).