The NWS Cooperative Observer Program

The National Co-op Program & National Co-Op Quarterly Newsletter
The Hoosier Co-op Program
- WxCoder Program
- WxCoder Login Page
- WxCoder Users Manual (4MB pdf file)
- IV-ROCS Telephone Instructions
- Instructions for Retrieving Co-op Data on the Web
- Routine Visits will conducted for each cooperative weather
  site every six months. We will try to contact you prior to a visit,
  however if we are in the neighborhood, we may stop by. The
  purpose of these visits is to check equipment, answer any
  questions and to visit with our cooperative observers.
COOP Precipitation/Snowfall Messages and Tables (Product Information)
COOP Precipitation/Snowfall Graphic Maps (Product Information)
Co-op Equipment
History of the Co-op Program
Awards 2008
- Bob McLain Awarded 15 Years of Service Award
- Dave Simmons Awarded 15 Years of Service Award
Awards 2007
Awards 2006
Awards 2005
Awards 2004
Awards 2003
Awards 2002
Awards 2001
The Hoosier Co-op Program

The Indiana cooperative weather network continues to assist the NWS in providing rainfall and snowmelt values for hydrology and temperature and precipitation for climatology. Even though the NWS has exited the agriculture forecast business, soil temperature and evaporation data are still published from the cooperative program.

Daily 24 hour precipitation amounts are reported to Indianapolis and the Ohio River Forecast Center in Cincinnati, OH and Minneapolis, MN through the ROSA system from more than 150 Indiana cooperative observers.

Observers use only official 8 inch standard rain gages which are positioned by NWS representatives. Calls are made near 7AM. There are currently 3 ways for observers to report via ROSA. The original 300 baud ROSA encoder is in use whereby the observer encodes and sends his/her observation by means of a coupler that fits on the phone mouthpiece. Newer to the system is the touch tone memory phone which the NWS provides. Newest is the "Compu-ROSA" system where the NWS provides software to observers with computers with modems.

Many institutions such as universities, waste water treatment plants, water companies and power companies are involved in the cooperative program. Many of these locations are at river sites where consciousness of the river stage is vital to operations. "I'll scratch your back/you scratch mine" technique still works.

The bulk of the cooperative program is made up of those outstanding citizens who take an active part in their community and/or have a strong interest in the weather. These people vary in professions from bankers and salesmen to homemakers and farmers. The NWS has an awards system for these valuable people. After 10 years of service each individual is given a Length of Service award every 5 years. For those who show extraordinary expertise for extended periods of time there are the Thomas Jefferson award (given to 5 individuals nationally per year) and the John Campanius Holm award (given to 25 individuals per year). Cooperative observers in Indiana have been recipients of one of more of these awards every year for the last decade.

Stations in the cooperative program follow distinct guidelines. There are climatology, hydrology and supplementary networks. The climatology network is comprised of stations that take daily maximum/minimum temperatures and precipitation. The hydrology network is composed of rainfall, river, evaporation and hourly precipitation recorders (better known as the Fischer & Porter network). The supplementary network is made up of stations that provide agriculture data and those who want to be involved and are willing to provide their own NWS approved equipment.

- R. Kenyon

History of the Co-op Program

With all of the state-of-the-art technology associated with the modernization of the National Weather Service there remains a program administered by the Weather Service that has stayed virtually unchanged since its inception over a hundred years ago. This is the Cooperative Weather Observer Program where 11,700 volunteer weather observers across the country record daily temperature and precipitation data. Some also record or report additional information such as soil temperature, evaporation and wind movement, agricultural data, water equivalent of snow on the ground, river stages, lake levels, atmospheric phenomena, and road hazards. Many Cooperative Stations in the United States have been collecting weather data from the same location for over 100 years.

The first extensive network of cooperative stations was set up in the 1890's as a result of an act of congress in 1890 that established the Weather Bureau, but many of its stations began operation long before that time. John Companius Holm's weather records, taken without the benefit of instruments in 1644 and 1645, were the earliest known observations in the United States. Subsequently many persons, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, maintained weather records. Jefferson maintained an almost unbroken record of weather observations between 1776 and 1816 and Washington took his last weather observation just a few days before he died. Two of the most prestigious awards given to Cooperative Weather Observers are named after Holm and Jefferson. Because of it's many decades of relatively stable operation, high station density, and high proportion of rural locations, the Cooperative Network has been recognized as the most definitive source of information on U.S. climate trends for temperature and precipitation. Cooperative Stations form the core of the U.S. Historical Climate Network (HCN) and the U.S. Reference Climate Network.

Equipment to gather these data is provided and maintained by the National Weather Service and data forms are sent monthly to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina, where data are digitized, quality controlled, and subsequently archived. Volunteer weather observers regularly and conscientiously contribute their time so that their observations can provide the vital information needed. These data are invaluable in learning more about the floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves which inevitably affect everyone. They are also used in agricultural planning and assessment, engineering, environmental-impact assessment, utilities planning, and litigation and play a critical role in efforts to recognize and evaluate the extent of human impacts on climate from local to global scales. Many Cooperative Weather Observers report daily precipitation to River Forecast Centers in support of the National Weather Service Hydrology Program.

Back to the Co-op Menu

Back to the NWSFO IND Front Page

NOAA's National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

The NWS Cooperative Observer Program

The Hoosier Co-op Program

History of the Co-op Program