The Utah Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRAHS) Program

Presenter Information

Esmaiel Malek
Robert Gillies

Location

Eccles Conference

Event Website

http://water.usu.edu/

Start Date

4-2-2009 10:40 AM

End Date

4-2-2009 10:45 AM

Description

The Utah Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Program Esmaiel Malek and Ron Gillies Utah Climate Center: http://climate.usu.edu. Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT Abstract: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow (CoCoRaHS) program is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). Using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive web-site, the aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. The network originated with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 thanks in part to the Fort Collins flood a year prior. In the years since, CoCoRaHS has expanded rapidly with over 12,000+ observers in thirty nine states. Utah joined the national CoCoRaHS program on 1 July, 2008, through the Utah Climate Center (UCC): http://climate.usu.edu. Precipitation (especially rain) is extremely important and is highly variable in space and time. Existing precipitation observing stations (or just say "weather stations") are often too far apart to see much of the local variability. Precipitation measurements from many sources are not always accurate (especially snow). There is almost no quantitative data being collected about hail. CoCoRaHS precipitation data supplement existing networks and provide many useful results to scientists, resource managers, decision makers and other end users on a timely basis. This network can be expanded at the international level. A great benefit of CoCoRaHS is that it gives many people the opportunity to participate in science. Over the last several years CoCoRaHS staff have worked with science teachers in several states to develop lesson plans that are fun for the kids, teach basics concepts of meteorology and meet national science education standards. In the USA, CoCoRaHS is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Colorado State University and other universities, USDA, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Cooperative Extension, US Bureau of Reclamation, National Weather Service Local Offices, individual contributors, as well as many others. The Utah CoCoRaHS program has 5 regions (northwest, southwest, east, northeast, and central) with 132 volunteers throughout the state. Join the Utah CoCoRaHS program by visiting: http://www.cocorahs.org. You'll be provided a station ID and instructions to measure and report the precipitation data.

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Apr 2nd, 10:40 AM Apr 2nd, 10:45 AM

The Utah Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRAHS) Program

Eccles Conference

The Utah Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Program Esmaiel Malek and Ron Gillies Utah Climate Center: http://climate.usu.edu. Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT Abstract: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow (CoCoRaHS) program is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). Using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive web-site, the aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. The network originated with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 thanks in part to the Fort Collins flood a year prior. In the years since, CoCoRaHS has expanded rapidly with over 12,000+ observers in thirty nine states. Utah joined the national CoCoRaHS program on 1 July, 2008, through the Utah Climate Center (UCC): http://climate.usu.edu. Precipitation (especially rain) is extremely important and is highly variable in space and time. Existing precipitation observing stations (or just say "weather stations") are often too far apart to see much of the local variability. Precipitation measurements from many sources are not always accurate (especially snow). There is almost no quantitative data being collected about hail. CoCoRaHS precipitation data supplement existing networks and provide many useful results to scientists, resource managers, decision makers and other end users on a timely basis. This network can be expanded at the international level. A great benefit of CoCoRaHS is that it gives many people the opportunity to participate in science. Over the last several years CoCoRaHS staff have worked with science teachers in several states to develop lesson plans that are fun for the kids, teach basics concepts of meteorology and meet national science education standards. In the USA, CoCoRaHS is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Colorado State University and other universities, USDA, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Cooperative Extension, US Bureau of Reclamation, National Weather Service Local Offices, individual contributors, as well as many others. The Utah CoCoRaHS program has 5 regions (northwest, southwest, east, northeast, and central) with 132 volunteers throughout the state. Join the Utah CoCoRaHS program by visiting: http://www.cocorahs.org. You'll be provided a station ID and instructions to measure and report the precipitation data.

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