Topic: Sending a 0 amount

[ocala]

Do you guys still send a 0 amount?
I did at first but no more. Just can't see any reason to do it.
Zero doesn't show up in my monthly total so I just can't see it.
At the end of the month the Jacksonville NWS publishes all the CoCoRaHS for the area and my totals are just about even with the surrounding sites.
To be honest with the benign weather we have been having I usually forget anyways.

[tomcj2]

From the CoCoRaHS FAQ section of their site:

5. What if there is no precipitation to report?

Just record zero (0.00). It is very important to report 0.00, especially on days when there are scattered storms in the area. It is just as important to know where it didn't rain, as it is to know how much it rained where it did.

[floodcaster]

Excellent question. Zeroes are important! Many times during the summer we experience those isolated heavy downpours. Zero reports help determine the gradient around those rainfall patterns. Also, the NWS uses zero reports to estimate soil moisture or in the case of a string of zeroes, lack of soil moisture. This data is used to compute flash flood guidance which provides guidance on how much rain is required in a given duration to produce flooding...based on several factors including soil moisture. If an observer does not report on a given day, we don't know if they really had zero or just forgot or could not report. Yes, a zero means much more than nothing!

Do you guys still send a 0 amount?
I did at first but no more. Just can't see any reason to do it.
Zero doesn't show up in my monthly total so I just can't see it.
At the end of the month the Jacksonville NWS publishes all the CoCoRaHS for the area and my totals are just about even with the surrounding sites.
To be honest with the benign weather we have been having I usually forget anyways.

[neondesert]

To be honest with the benign weather we have been having I usually forget anyways.

If you do forget, there is an area where you can enter multiple zeros.  Just use the Monthly Zeros link http://www.cocorahs.org/Admin/MyDataEntry/MonthlyZerosReport.aspx under Enter My New Reports. 

When you live in the desert you become an expert at entering 0! 

[ocala]

I can see in the summer time when the rain is hit and miss but now, not so much in our dry season.

[tomcj2]

but now, not so much in our dry season.

If you look at the data for your county (Marion?) some percipitation has been reported on 10 days in the last month.

[rikostan]

I just did the class yesterday, our instructor stressed the importance of posting no precipitation. I would say it is just as important as posting when you do have a rain or snow event.

[tomcj2]

I just did the class

Did you get more out of the class than you would have received by reading and watching all of the material on their web pages?

[rikostan]

I just did the class

Did you get more out of the class than you would have received by reading and watching all of the material on their web pages?

Not really. It's not the fault of the instructor, she did a fine job, but nobody else said a single word.  I was the only one asking questions. I was hoping to discuss weather related topics with my peers, but everybody seemed to just want to get out of there. There was one other guy who stuck around for a bit afterward, but we didn't talk much either.

I swear I took a shower first!

[tomcj2]

I noticed that our County had only 7 entries out of 27 registrants today,  On the last rain day they had only 11 reports.  There may be some 4" gauges for sale at a reduced price.

[rikostan]

That's something the instructor said too. She is the NY state coordinator.... She said we have dropped about 40 observers over the last year with far less reports per observer too.

[ocala]

I noticed that our County had only 7 entries out of 27 registrants today,  On the last rain day they had only 11 reports.  There may be some 4" gauges for sale at a reduced price.

 I think most people, myself included, start out sending those zeros then they slowly forget after time.
But when you do get rain then it's easier to remember. I know during the summer I would always check the other sites around me but the last two months there just hasn't been much going on.