Residents of rural Wyoming and Colorado can make a difference during severe and sudden flood crises by volunteering to report rainfall. Strengthen the weather observation network. Network: Through CoCoRaHS, which stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, volunteers will be provided with free rain gauges and daily precipitation figures.

There is now a strong push for more people to provide this information in many sparsely populated areas of Wyoming and Colorado.

“There’s open space here, and there’s no data, so new observers can help fill in the blanks and create a more accurate map for the U.S. Drought Monitor,” said Tony Burgantino, director of the Wyoming Climate Department. It helps to University of Wyoming Water Resources Data System. This program will help farmers and ranchers affected by drought. Because if people report it’s not raining, the CoCoRaHS network can quantify that it’s raining/not raining in a particular area. Relief programs are linked to drought monitors through specific disaster declarations.

More data points on the CoCoRaHS map are also valuable during heavy rainfall events, Bergantino said.

CoCoRaHS Observers report daily, but if you’re on vacation, you can send a multi-day report to record how much time you’ve spent and how much you’ve gauged when you return.

Observers can submit reports at any time during the flood and Bergantino will receive an email immediately. Immediately alerting that something is happening, he then alerts the National Weather Service. This information helps NWS meteorologists provide specific details when monitoring and warning floods.

weather watcher

Terril Mills of Tenthleep, Wyoming, was the first CoCoRaHS volunteer in Washakie County (codename WY-WH-1). Jug.

“I was intrigued when a neighbor said, ‘I ran two inches from that storm.’ No, tapering,’ he replied. I then explained that their measurements were not accurate and that he was probably twice the actual measurements. ”

When Mills learned that the project, which started in Colorado, was expanding to Wyoming, he jumped in and received a free 4-inch rain gauge from Tony Bergantino.

“That was in the early days of CoCoRaHS. For years, my neighbors wouldn’t talk about the depth of the dog’s dish around me,” Mills said. There are currently no observers around Evanston or in the county.”

His father-in-law in New Mexico also became an observer.

John Maier, a CoCoRaHS observer and alfalfa farmer from Torrington, Wyoming, wants readers to know how easy it is to support and contribute to the CoCoRaHS network. Since 2010, we’ve sent over 4,600 reports each day, and it’s now part of Meyer’s morning routine.

“Since 2010, I think I have a nearly perfect record. I do it on my cell phone when I get ready to go to work,” said Maier, who is also an attorney.

Maier also enjoys being a seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) observer.

“It helps me and my neighbors to see where the water balance is. “We save irrigation water by using the irrigation system, and we don’t stress crops because of water shortages,” says Meyer.

save a life

CoCoRaHS is operated by the Colorado Climate Center and was founded in 1998 by Noland Dosken, a subclimatologist from Colorado. After flood deaths at Fort Collins, Colorado.

“There was a very localized difference to the thunderstorms west of Fort Collins, which were poorly caught and poorly warned at the time, resulting in fatalities. We thought it would be beneficial to have people with the network and direct access to determine which areas caused flooding and report this to the NWS.” Coordinator.

During that deadly flood, the headwaters of Spring Creek southwest of Fort Collins flooded mobile homes, killing several people. At that time, the residents did not know that it was raining so heavily upstream.

The CoCoRaHS network was launched a year later in June 1998.

Looking for volunteers

Colorado also needs more CoCoRaHS volunteers, especially in rural areas. Similar to Wyoming.

In Colorado, it’s the eastern plains that need observers the most. There are also eastern Adams counties, eastern Arapahoe counties, southern Lincoln counties, further east in Washington, Logan and Yuma counties, and also in eastern and southern Weld counties, Goble said.

Chris Knoetgen is also the Asset Manager of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

“If there is a lot of rain to report, it will be forwarded to the National Weather Service, which will use our information to compare the amount of precipitation with the thunderstorms they see on their radar,” Knoetgen said. said. “So by sending the report I just measured, they could trigger a flash flood alarm and help save lives.”

A recent Loveland thunderstorm brought 1.80 inches of rain, while Knoetgen, just 3 miles (3 miles) to the north, had very little rain. Show how the measurements differ.

He also found an easy way to measure snow.

“If there is a lot of snow, melt the snow inside and put it back into the gauge to get an accurate liquid reading. increase.

CoCoRaHS observers are mostly concentrated along Interstate 25 from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, and also in Pagosa Springs, Durango, and Glenwood Springs. However, the eastern part of the plains is less reported and sparsely populated.

“The 1997 storm death toll problem was not sufficiently warned, it was not caught by radar and rain gauges, and by the time the warning was issued, it was too late to evacuate the lowlands.” Goble said. But someone who can volunteer as an observer for CoCoRaHS says, say, at 9pm he got 2 inches of rain in an hour. Submit directly to NWS so that NWS can use it to publish or coordinate information. Flash flood warning. ”

CoCoRaHS founder Doesken grew up as a farm kid in Southern Illinois and had a way of engaging with farm audiences. “Nolan realized that backyard rainfall gauging could save lives.”

In Wyoming or to sign up for Wyoming CoCoRaHS information: CoCoRaHS.org Or: Antonius@uwyo.edu

To register in Colorado, contact peter.goble@colostate.edu, call (970) 491-8545, or email info@cocorahs.org.

About CoCoRaHS: https://cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=aboutus#uses.

Nebraska We use our own NeRAIN program, but started recruiting volunteers for CoCoRHaS after 2012. All data from standard gauges are uploaded to his CoCoRHaS — NeRAIN is a subset of his CoCoRHaS.

There are some differences for those considering volunteering in Nebraska.

1. Which website do you want to navigate to? and
2. NeRAIN is providing free rain gauges through various natural resource district offices. In Nebraska, a CoCoRHaS volunteer purchased the same gauge for $40. Those interested in participating in the program should contact the regional coordinators listed below. https://nednr.nebraska.gov/NeRain/Home/coordinators.