[/q] CoCoRaHS -- Rain Gauge Week is Here! - Let's Hit 15,000!
Fort Collins, Colorado -- September 10, 2019
Dear Rain Gauge Watchers:
This is it — our self-proclaimed week for celebrating rain gauges and the important data they collect! Later this week I will be sending out a short article about the history of National Weather Service rain gauges back to the late 1800s. If you are one of the hundreds of schools participating, or would like to play along, keep reading for a message from our education coordinator about a new lesson/activity where anyone can look up real satellite data from a NASA mission that measures precipitation from orbit, and then compare it to CoCoRaHS data to see how it lines up - hint: pretty good, but certainly not perfect - but data from sources like CoCoRaHS are exactly the kind of thing that helps mission scientists refine and calibrate their satellites.
But first let’s focus on our goal — getting 15,000 of us to report on the same day.
As I began writing this message on (late) Monday evening, over 10,700 daily reports had already been submitted. Now, this morning, hundreds of schools that set out their gauges yesterday are reporting their first daily report for the week, and many for the first time ever. We also have several hundred newcomers to CoCoRaHS who have just gotten their gauges set up and are ready to begin reporting. But if we’re going to hit 15,000 it’s going to take more than that. It’s going to take a few thousand of us who often check our rain gauge but who don’t always report on dry days to get out there and report.
I was hoping for some widespread rains this week to drum up interest, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. As I look at the forecast for this week, southern Canada and the northern tier of the US could see wet weather. But it is looking dry for many of us especially from California to Colorado and from Texas northeastward to Kentucky. The good news is reporting zeros is really easy, so let’s do it! As we say, "Be a hero and report your zero!"
A Few "What If's"
What if I’m going on vacation and don’t have anybody helping me read my gauge while I’m gone?
Well, shucks. For sure, enjoy your vacation. When you get back you can always send in a multi-day report. Unfortunately, multi-day reports do not count as daily reports. However, if you find no moisture at all in your gauge when you return, you may be able to file zero reports for each day and those would count. But do check the maps (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=bdedd8eb2f&e=6d116c03e0) for your area and make sure that each day was dry everywhere around you. Small amounts of precipitation may have fallen and then evaporated from your gauge before you got back. So report zeros only if they truly were zeros.
What if I haven’t put my rain gauge out yet?
Why wait any longer. Put it out today and start measuring and reporting tomorrow!
What if I don’t have a rain gauge yet?
Drat, this is a poor time to figure that out :-) Obviously, you can’t be reporting precipitation without a gauge. But if you know for sure that no precipitation fell, you could report zero even without a gauge. Then get a CoCoRaHS-compatible gauge as soon as you can so you’re ready for the next big rain. Our "Welcome Letter" (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=3a634a8a8c&e=6d116c03e0) has links to vendors that sell the approved gauge.
What if my old gauge is worn out, broken or unreadable?
Well, this is a fine time to figure that out. Go ahead and order a replacement gauge when you can. If you simply can’t afford one and really want to continue to participate, please contact us. We’ll see what we can figure out.
What if I forgot my login information?
That's easy. Click here to look it up yourself (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=5e399bcdc7&e=6d116c03e0). If you don't know your station number, you'll need to provide the e-mail address you used when you signed up with us. If that doesn't work, or if you need us to update your e-mail address, please e-mail our help desk (info@cocorahs.org) and we will assist you.
What if I can’t login and seem to be blocked from entering data?
If you have not entered any data for a year or more your station may have been automatically closed and your data entry page will be blank. Just let us know by sending a quick message to info@cocorahs.org and we can easily re-activate your account and you’ll be back in business with the flip of a switch.
What if I just don’t feel like it?
All I can do is be an "encourager". The rest is up to you. If you think your "little" report of 0.00 doesn't mean something, I can only tell you that it really, really does. If nothing else, it completes your data and makes it even more valuable for researchers who can only use stations with no missing days within the month.
Finally, thanks for your excellent effort’s to report rainfall from Hurricane Dorian all up and down the East Coast from southern Florida to the Atlantic provinces of Canada. What a trip that was. Thanks for the detailed comments as well that some of you submitted.
One of the very hard parts of CoCoRaHS is the fact that when a disaster occurs almost always one or more of us are nearby and sometimes right in the middle of things. For example, we had volunteers on both of the islands in the Bahamas (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=8a8495264a&e=6d116c03e0) that were so incredibly devastated. We have heard from one volunteer who survived. There is grave concern however that some may not have. We will keep you posted.
I will be in touch again later in the week with more information and an update on reaching our goal. No farm story this time but we did add four young hens to our flock just this afternoon. I’ll give you an update on how they’re socializing in my next e-mail, but for now, please continue reading for a quick message from our education coordinator, Noah Newman:
Hello schools, and anyone else that would like to learn how to access real data from NASA satellites (and CoCoRaHS data from the High Plains Regional Climate Center). This new activity - linked below - will guide you through the steps to download monthly totals from the NASA GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Mission and compare them to direct ground measurements from your own CoCoRaHS station. If you just started, or if your own station doesn't have complete data, it is easy to modify the instructions to select another station closest to you that does have complete data. If you follow the complete set of instructions and e-mail NASA your comparison graphs, they will send you a digital certificate of appreciation and potentially highlight your school during Earth Science Week (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=47721650c1&e=6d116c03e0) (Oct 13-18). Otherwise, check out the tools and explore! The instructions for accessing CoCoRaHS data are cool on their own!
Click here to begin! (https://cocorahs.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00577ca59c6e6aa18cc70743c&id=f26ce742d1&e=6d116c03e0)
Until then,
Nolan Doesken and the CoCoRaHS team
NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation Ambassador Program
Colorado State University
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http://cloud.cocorahs.org/wys/2017-2018/CAN/CAN-ON-31-wys-2017-2018.html
Enjoy,
Paul