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Jason Jenkins
Senior Information Specialist
573-882-2980
JenkinsJL@missouri.edu
Published: May 22, 2006
Story Source: Pat Guinan (573) 882-5908
Tony Lupo (573) 884-1638
for new community weather network
COLUMBIA, Mo. - A new weather-monitoring network is looking for volunteers of all ages across the state, University of Missouri researchers said.
This spring, Missouri became the 12th member of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, known as CoCoRaHS, which consists of volunteers who provide daily precipitation measurements from their backyards.
"You can never have too many precipitation observations," said Pat Guinan, MU Extension state climatologist. "There can be a lot of spatial variability during a precipitation event, so the more observations the better."
Guinan, who is coordinating Missouri's CoCoRaHS network with Tony Lupo, MU associate professor of atmospheric science, said that researchers at Colorado State University established CoCoRaHS in 1998.
"The previous year, a storm dumped more than a foot of rain over some portions of Ft. Collins, Colo., but not others," he said. "Localized flooding occurred, killing five people and causing about $200 million in damages."
Lupo said that by increasing precipitation observations in Missouri, CoCoRaHS can help save lives here.
"We'll be supplementing data collected by the National Weather Service," he said. "If a CoCoRaHS volunteer observes intense precipitation, the data can be sent in real-time to the National Weather Service and incorporated into their algorithms used to issue flash-flood warnings."
The data also will improve drought assessment, river-level predictions, long-term climatology and storm-tracking research, the scientists said. "We've all seen instances where you have an inch of rainfall in one area, and across the street, not a drop falls," Guinan said. "By increasing precipitation observations, we can start to account for and learn from this kind of variability."
To participate in the CoCoRaHS network, a volunteer only needs to have an Internet connection and an approved, high-capacity 4-inch-diameter rain gauge that is accurate for measuring both rain and snowfall.
"A volunteer is asked to record precipitation totals and upload them daily to the state database from the CoCoRaHS Web site," Guinan said. "If you miss some days because you're away on vacation, that's OK. The data can be backlogged."
An optional recording device that also will be available to volunteers is a hail pad, Lupo said. "It's a 12-inch-square piece of plastic foam covered in aluminum foil that volunteers can place in their yards to record hail size and intensity. After a hail storm, a volunteer simply mails the pad here to MU, and we collect the data."
Because the required rain gauge can cost $20 to $30, Guinan and Lupo are seeking local and regional sponsors for the network. "We'd love to cooperate with TV stations, corporations, agricultural co-ops, commodity groups, really anyone who's interested," Guinan said.
For more information about CoCoRaHS or to join the network, go online to http://www.cocorahs.org/. Those interested in sponsorship opportunities may contact Guinan at (573) 882-5908 or GuinanP@missouri.edu or Lupo at (573) 884-1638 or LupoA@missouri.edu.