Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network

CoCoRaHS

Keep Track Of The Weather In Your Backyard!

The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network is a non-profit network of volunteer weather observers from across the country that measure and report rain, hail and snow. If you would like to play an active role in meteorological reporting and research using inexpensive equipment in your own backyard, then CoCoRaHS is for you!

The program originated with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 thanks in part to the Fort Collins flood a year prior. North Carolina became a member in September 2007 while South Carolina became a member in March 2008. Interestingly, many of the rainfall totals we collected after Hurricane Florence (2018) came from the CoCoRaHs program. In fact, the record rainfall measured during Florence was from a CoCoRaHs observer, a staggering 35.93” near Elizabethtown that also set the NC state tropical cyclone rainfall record! A CoCoRaHs observer in Loris, SC measured 23.63” during Florence, which became the new SC state tropical cyclone rainfall record. There are currently 200+ active CoCoRaHs observers in the NWS Wilmington, NC County Warning Area. However, several of our counties, including Marion, SC and Bladen, NC, only have a few active observers each.

Eastern North Carolina

Eastern South Carolina

Who can participate?

This is a community project open to everyone! Besides needing a parent/guardian name if you're younger than 13 years old, 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.

What do you do as a volunteer observer?

Observers will submit daily (or multi-day) reports of rain, snow and hail via the CoCoRaHS website or mobile app. Soil conditions and water impacts can also be reported.

What benefits are there in volunteering?

One of the neat things about participating in this network is coming away with the feeling that you have made an important contribution that helps others. 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. You also will have the chance to make some new friends as you do something important and learn some new things along the way. In some areas, activities are organized for network participants including training sessions, field trips, special speakers, picnics, pot-luck dinners, and photography contests just to name a few.

Who uses CoCoRaHS data?

CoCoRaHS data is used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals, including us here at the NWS, to assist with water resource analysis, hazardous weather warnings, and more. Additional users include: hydrologists, climatologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, engineers, mosquito controllers, ranchers/farmers, and teachers.

How can I find out more about CoCoRaHS and how to sign up?

Find out more about the CoCoRaHS program here. If you want to sign up, click here. If you have any questions, please contact our local CoCoRaHS Coordinator, Tim Armstrong, at timothy.armstrong@noaa.gov.

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network

CoCoRaHS

Eastern North Carolina

Eastern South Carolina