Source: NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 3/29/19


During significant weather events, on-the-ground observations often provide us with the best indications of local conditions and impacts, but we don't just get this information from automated weather stations. In fact, during Hurricane Florence last fall, some of the most meaningful -- and most impressive -- observations came from the backyards of volunteer observers!

Those volunteers were part of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, better known as CoCoRaHS, which was created in 1997 to coordinate daily precipitation measurements across the country.

It's never a bad time to sign up to be a CoCoRaHS observer, but if you register this month, you could also help North Carolina claim its fifth title in the annual March Madness competition to recruit new observers.

If you'd like to become a CoCoRaHS observer, simply sign up at CoCoRaHS.org, order an official rain gauge (CoCoRaHS recommends purchasing from WeatherYourWay), set it up and view some training materials, and start reporting your totals online every day!

The Benefits of CoCoRaHS
In the past, we've covered how CoCoRaHS reports help inform our office, the National Weather Service, and the statewide drought monitoring process. Without a doubt, CoCoRaHS observers provide important data to meteorologists all over the nation, filling in gaps and providing valuable local insight.

"An additional benefit of the program to the National Weather Service is the ability to receive timely reports of significant weather such as hail, intense rainfall, or localized flooding from CoCoRaHS observers that can assist meteorologists in issuing and verifying warnings for severe thunderstorms," said David Glenn, the CoCoRaHS state co-coordinator and a National Weather Service meteorologist in Morehead City.

That was proven once again during Hurricane Florence last fall. Although Florence weakened to a Category-1 by the time it made landfall, its main impact on North Carolina was not from its wind but from its extreme rainfall and widespread flooding.
CoCoRaHS at Work During Florence

So, how did CoCoRaHS help? The two maps below show North Carolina's coverage of precipitation observations with and without CoCoRaHS reports. Especially in the heaviest-hit parts of southeastern North Carolina, CoCoRaHS observers provided valuable data in areas otherwise lacking reports.

For more information, click here.