National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

 5th Aniversary of CoCoRaHS in Illinois

 
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network celebrated its fifth anniversary in Illinois on December 1, 2011.

CoCoRaHS is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities.  The program started in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1998 and now exists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  More than 10,000 volunteers participate nationwide.  Volunteers enter their observation on an interactive web site, and observations are immediately viewable on maps or in tables.  You can view CoCoRaHS observations at www.cocorahs.org.

There are currently more than 500 observers across the state making and reporting daily rainfall and snow observations, supplementing the observations made at airports and by NWS Cooperative Observers.

In the past five years Illinois observers have submitted more than 533,000 observations. These observations are used every day by National Weather Service, private meteorologists and climatologists, the media, civil engineers, municipalities, farmers, your neighbors, and many others. Special reports on hail, heavy precipitation, and other weather events are relayed to the National Weather Service and used to monitor flooding potential, severe thunderstorms, winter storms, and other significant weather events.  

CoCoRaHS is looking for additional volunteers throughout the state of Illinois. To find out more about this exciting program or to join, visit www.cocorahs.org and click on the “Join COCORAHS” link on the web page.

There are some upcoming training sessions in early December. See below for more information on this free training.

1.     Date: 12/7     Time: 6 PM      Location: Virginia
2.     Date: 12/8     Time: 6 PM      Location: Galesburg