From UW-Extension
How heavy was the rainfall overnight? How much snow fell during the latest snowstorm? How bad
is the drought this year?
Join over 500 fellow volunteers across Wisconsin who report precipitation online to ensure measurements of snow, rain and hail is available for your area.
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRaHS is recruiting volunteer weather observers to help the National Weather Service and others determine the impact and severity of each storm.
Everyone can participate – young, old, and in-between. The only requirements are an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can impact our lives.
All you need to do is sign-up, attend an online training, and then you are ready to start measuring weather in your own backyard. Volunteers can measure:
- snow using a yardstick or homemade snowboard
- rainfall and the water content of snow using a 4” diameter rain gauge
- hail using a ruler or homemade hail pad
- ice accretion using a ruler
You’ll be amazed at what you learn as you become more aware of the variable weather that impacts you, your neighbors, your state and our entire country. Plus, you'll help ground truth weather events, providing valuable information for improving weather forecasting models. The data you provide will help shape forecasts of river stages and flood levels on local rivers and can help inform National Weather Service thunderstorm or flash flood warnings just to name a few examples.
Join your fellow Wisconsinites who report rainfall, snow fall and weather facts. Register today!.
For more information, contact:
Kevin Erb, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension
920-391-4652, [email protected]