Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network
April 12, 2024
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, or CoCoRaHS, is a network of volunteer weather observers in the United States, Canada, and the Bahamas that take daily readings of precipitation and report them to a central data store over the internet. The program is an example of citizen science.
The network was started in 1997 in Larimer County, Colorado, after a flash flood in Spring Creek killed five people[1] and damaged structures in the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, including hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to the Colorado State University campus.[2] The severity of the flood and its widespread spatial variability surprised meteorologists, and former assistant state climatologist for the state of Colorado, Nolan Doesken, asked for precipitation measurements from private citizens in the area. About 300 responded to his emergency request for data. Said Doesken later, "The results of the data showed that more than 14 in. (36 cm) of rain fell over southwest Fort Collins, the area where the flood waters originated, while less than 2 in. (5 cm) of rain fell only 3–4 mi (5–6 km) east. The enthusiastic interest shown by volunteers and the great value of the data verified the need for such a service, and CoCoRaHS was born."[3] The program was originally confined to Colorado (the first "Co" in "CoCoRaHS" stood for "Colorado" instead of "Community"), but began expanding to other states during the 2000s.
A 4-inch plastic rain gauge, typical of those used by the CoCoRaHS program
Usersedit
CoCoRaHS is used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals. The National Weather Service (NWS), other meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), transportation departments, insurance adjusters, the USDA, engineers, mosquito control, ranchers and farmers, outdoor & recreation interests, teachers, students, and neighbors in the community are examples of people who use CoCoRaHS data.[4]
Other programsedit
A similar program, the Significant Weather Observing Program (SWOP), was begun independently in around the year 2000 by the National Weather Service Lincoln, Illinois. CoCoRaHS data supplements the more rigorous data from the national program with increased spatial and temporal resolution. Real-time data is also provided by the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP), whose users operate weather stations that automatically report over the internet, and which supplements the more rigorous data reported by formal surface weather observation stations. The earliest and thus critically important for its long-term historical record from respective locations is the Cooperative Observer program of manually recorded daily summaries.
Sponsorsedit
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are major sponsors of CoCoRaHS and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is also a partner.[4] Other organizations have contributed either financially, and/or with supplies and equipment. Many other organizations and individuals have also pitched in time and resources to help keep the network up and running.
Statusedit
As of 2015 all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico participate in CoCoRaHS.[5] The CoCoRaHS Canada network began in Manitoba in December 2011 following a massive flood in that province.[6] As of 2014, the network had expanded to the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.[6] There were over 20,000 participants as of March 2015.[4]
^ abc. Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Catalog. CitizenScience.gov. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
^. CoCoRaHS. Archived from the original on 2015-03-10.
^ ab. CoCoRaHS. Archived from the original on 2014-07-01.
This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.
External linksedit
and blog
Twitter profile
Facebook page
NOAA Cooperative Weather Observer Program
April 12, 2024
community, collaborative, rain, hail, snow, network, cocorahs, network, volunteer, weather, observers, united, states, canada, bahamas, that, take, daily, readings, precipitation, report, them, central, data, store, over, internet, program, example, citizen, s. The Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRaHS is a network of volunteer weather observers in the United States Canada and the Bahamas that take daily readings of precipitation and report them to a central data store over the internet The program is an example of citizen science The CoCoRaHS logo Contents 1 History 2 Users 2 1 Other programs 3 Sponsors 4 Status 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory editThe network was started in 1997 in Larimer County Colorado after a flash flood in Spring Creek killed five people 1 and damaged structures in the city of Fort Collins Colorado including hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to the Colorado State University campus 2 The severity of the flood and its widespread spatial variability surprised meteorologists and former assistant state climatologist for the state of Colorado Nolan Doesken asked for precipitation measurements from private citizens in the area About 300 responded to his emergency request for data Said Doesken later The results of the data showed that more than 14 in 36 cm of rain fell over southwest Fort Collins the area where the flood waters originated while less than 2 in 5 cm of rain fell only 3 4 mi 5 6 km east The enthusiastic interest shown by volunteers and the great value of the data verified the need for such a service and CoCoRaHS was born 3 The program was originally confined to Colorado the first Co in CoCoRaHS stood for Colorado instead of Community but began expanding to other states during the 2000s nbsp A 4 inch plastic rain gauge typical of those used by the CoCoRaHS programUsers editCoCoRaHS is used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals The National Weather Service NWS other meteorologists hydrologists emergency managers city utilities water supply water conservation storm water transportation departments insurance adjusters the USDA engineers mosquito control ranchers and farmers outdoor amp recreation interests teachers students and neighbors in the community are examples of people who use CoCoRaHS data 4 Other programs edit A similar program the Significant Weather Observing Program SWOP was begun independently in around the year 2000 by the National Weather Service Lincoln Illinois CoCoRaHS data supplements the more rigorous data from the national program with increased spatial and temporal resolution Real time data is also provided by the Citizen Weather Observer Program CWOP whose users operate weather stations that automatically report over the internet and which supplements the more rigorous data reported by formal surface weather observation stations The earliest and thus critically important for its long term historical record from respective locations is the Cooperative Observer program of manually recorded daily summaries Sponsors editThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA and the National Science Foundation NSF are major sponsors of CoCoRaHS and the Bureau of Land Management BLM is also a partner 4 Other organizations have contributed either financially and or with supplies and equipment Many other organizations and individuals have also pitched in time and resources to help keep the network up and running Status editAs of 2015 all fifty states the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico participate in CoCoRaHS 5 The CoCoRaHS Canada network began in Manitoba in December 2011 following a massive flood in that province 6 As of 2014 the network had expanded to the Canadian provinces of Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec and Saskatchewan 6 There were over 20 000 participants as of March 2015 4 See also editSkywarn Safecast organization References edit Browning Tom 2006 07 30 Lessons from a killer flood The Denver Post Retrieved 27 March 2015 Flooding Timeline in Fort Collins Office of Emergency Management Archived from the original on 2007 09 27 raingaugevolunteers www awwa org permanent dead link a b c The Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network CoCoRaHS Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Catalog CitizenScience gov Archived from the original on 2018 07 09 Retrieved 2018 07 08 Welcome to CoCoRaHS CoCoRaHS Archived from the original on 2015 03 10 a b About CoCoRaHS Canada CoCoRaHS Archived from the original on 2014 07 01 nbsp This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3 0 license External links editCoCoRaHS website and blog Twitter profile Facebook page NOAA Cooperative Weather Observer Program Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network amp oldid 1190688424, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
