Calling All South Florida Residents! We Need Your Help Measuring Rainfall. Join CoCoRaHS Today!

CoCoRaHS

What's the Weather in Your Backyard?
When you hear the rainfall amount from the official gage, have you ever said, "That's not what I got!"

What is CoCoRaHS?

CoCoRaHS is an acronym that stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network. CoCoRaHS is a non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and report precipitation data. The program started in Colorado in 1998 and is now active in almost all 50 states across the country. Data collected through CoCoRaHS helps meteorologists, researchers, media outlets, and others observe and study the variability of precipitation across South Florida. The accumulated precipitation data is available to anyone through the internet.

Here is a example of the rainfall reports that we get from our current CoCoRaHS observers across South Florida from the CoCoRaHS network.

How is CoCoRaHS Data Used?

CoCoRaHS data are used in several important ways. In addition to reporting daily precipitation, observers are also encouraged to report hail and intense precipitation. CoCoRaHS hail reports have been used numerous times to verify severe thunderstorm warnings and intense precipitation reports have alerted forecasters to heavy rainfall, prompting the issuance of flood/flash flood warnings. Also, daily CoCoRaHS precipitation data is gathered and issued in a text format for South Florida. Click HERE to see the latest CoCoRaHS precipitation reports across the United States.

CoCoRaHS data are also collected and analyzed to create event rainfall accumulation maps. One example is a heavy rainfall event late October into early November 2011.

The main thing to remember is that CoCoRaHS data are used on a consistent basis by the National Weather Service in a multitude of ways!

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.

What will our volunteer observers be doing?

Each time a rain, hail or snow storm crosses your area, volunteers take measurements of precipitation from as many locations as possible (see equipment). These precipitation reports are then recorded on the web site www.cocorahs.org. The data are then displayed and organized for many of our end users to analyze and apply to daily situations ranging from water resource analysis and severe storm warnings to neighbors comparing how much rain fell in their backyards.

How do I join CoCoRaHS and report data to CoCoRaHS?

Becoming part of the CoCoRaHS program is quite easy. Simply go to the program's web site, www.cocorahs.org, and click on the "Join CoCoRaHS" link in the upper right-hand portion of the web page. After entering all the necessary information, purchase one of the 4" rain gages that is standard to the program. To get more info on reporting rainfall amounts click on the video on how to start reporting data to CoCoRaHS, and on extreme rainfall event.

For more information, use the contact information provided below.

South Florida

Region Coordinator: Barry Baxter
Email: Barry.N.Baxter@noaa.gov
Telephone: 305-229-4525