http://www.cocorahs.org/To quote from their site:
to measure precipitation in the backyards of citizens from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It's easy to join, takes only five minutes a day and is a fun way to learn about this wonderful natural resource that falls from the sky. We are striving to have 30,000-40,000 active observers by the end of 2013 which will give us an ever clearer picture of the amount of precipitation that falls in our backyards.Automated electronic rain gauges aren't accurate enough for CoCoRaHS, must be their 4 inch professional plastic gauge. About $30. It's for everybody who has a deck or a yard with a (fence) post.
The rain, hail, snow measurements are used by the media and the scientific community because our data is more credible. We all use the same instrument and have been trained before submitting data. We make a gauge reading every day to report zeros, no rain or our daily rain accumulations to the nearest 0.01". Snow measurements also. It's for people like you who wish to benefit your community with accurate precipitation reports. Now covers all 50 states and parts of Canada.
