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As an observer who reports with CoCoRaHS ( CoCoRaHS - Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network ) I was going back and forth with a coordinator from there about reporting a daily (midnight to midnight) rather than a 24hr (7am - 7am).
Some interesting info you all might find interesting. 2 separate emails.
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The reason we are morning people, 7am people, are these:
1) There is a flurry of activity going on at the hour in every NWS WFO to find out "What happened yesterday?" They'll look at radar, NWS Co-Op observers reporting at that time and CoCoRaHS. If your report is there, they will look it. If not, they pass by.
2) There is a similar flurry of activity going on at that hour at the NorthEast River Forecast Center (Northeast River Forecast Center) Taunton MA office. They too look at many different sources of precip data including CoCoRaHS. If your report is there, they will look at it. If not, they pass by.
3) Least likely to have rain at that hour, than 7pm.
4) Least likely to forget to report, if you report along with your morning wakeup routine.
You could do a storm total with a Multi-Day report from a link on the website, if you feel that you don't want to measure and report in the middle of a morning precip event. If you want more details on that, ask. Otherwise, Daily Reporting gets more notice than Multi-Day Reporting does. Multi-Day reporting helps fill in a gap in time that you didn't report in.
We have "Monthly Zeros" for reporting days of zeros in between precip events.
We have observer notes, called Comments.
We have Water Year Summaries for October->September reporting. It's all on the website.
NWS CoOperative Observers report at 7am each day. CoCoRaHS wants to be part of that reporting also. That's why I said "they will pass you by" . The ritual takes place once a day, around 7am-9am 7 days a week. If your report is there, they will look at it. If your report comes later, they will probably never see it - they will pass you by.
My Yogi-ism for all of this goes like this: The earlier you report, the more people will see it. Sounds like something Yogi would say. Reporting at 6am is great, also. Before the start of the 7am ritual.
At the same time, CoCoRaHS wants to be flexible with its observers also. That why you see people with observation times between 4:30am-9:30am on the map. That's why the Multi-Day reporting. That's why the Monthly Zeros feature for all and for those places that get far fewer rain events than we get.
Fresh from getting woken up at 4am to the thunderstorms, you can report midnight to midnight. With precip occurring between midnight and 7am, a midnight report misses it on one day and the next midnight report picks it up the next day. Time shifting, it is called.
Midnight-midnight may seem more accurate, but the NWS CoOperative Observers report at 7am each day.
Whatever time you pick to report, 2 important things. Make sure the observation time on the report is when you make your observation. Make sure you use the 4" diameter clear plastic rain gauge. The 4" diameter gauge tends to be 10% higher than automated gauges, and that's before it snows, and before the automated gauge needs a cleaning.
Hope this helps and keeps you actively measuring and reporting.
There are a few people like you, nationwide that prefer midnight to midnight.
Happy July, everyone! As we move into mid summer, we are in the time of year where, with the exception of much of California and some of the Pacific NW, thunderstorm downpours are most prolific. It is also the time where rainfall can be most dramatically localized -- with flash flooding in one part of town and possibly dry elsewhere. As I mentioned in my note two weeks ago, this was the situation that motivated CoCoRaHS to be born
It is now that time of year, so I ask you to be on your toes. Situations like that are repeated every summer. These next several weeks are the time of year when the atmosphere can carry more water vapor than any other time of year. This is because "precipitable water" -- the total depth of water that could be condensed out of a column of air directly overhead -- is limited by temperature. The warmer it is, the more water the atmosphere can hold, and this is non linear. Increasing the temperature of the air 2 degrees F increases the moisture-holding capacity by about 7%. Ocean waters also continue to warm so that vast water vapor resources lurk nearby over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the warming Atlantic. (Remember, the dry summers on the W. Coast result from the fact that the Pacific Ocean currents remain chilly -- reducing evaporation and suppressing convection.) Click on the image above to see the 'climatology of precipitable water' during different months of the year.
So keep your eyes on the skies and have your rain gauge ready. Maybe the storm will dump on you or maybe it will miss, but either way your measurement and report will be very important.
Real Time Reports
While CoCoRaHS is best known for our once-a-day 24-hour precipitation reports and our colorful daily precipitation maps, you can also send in special reports throughout the day.
Another informative email... Hope this is helpful or interesting.
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Thanks for the compliments on the newsletter.
If you have a missing report, chances are it's a zero because people are good about reporting precip events. We are flexible about filling in empty reports. The easiest thing to do is to report during your morning wake up routine. If you forget, Monthly Zeros helps, Multi-Day reporting helps. We're flexible.
The emphasis on zeros is because at the end of a week, and end of a month, there are some who look at your CoCoRaHS station to see if you have any missing reports. Who? I want to talk to the Drought Monitor folks at University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I think they're one!
The other one that I'm more certain of is the forecast office at Taunton/Boston. Whoa! We live in western CT. Ours is the NYC/Brookhaven/Upton forecast office. What do those folks wanna know for? Here comes the territorial situation.
Because the Taunton/Boston office forecasts for the capital of Connecticut, Hartford, they report to the state government for the entire state. The Governor's "Weather Guard" I call it. Taunton/Boston forecast office serves as the Governor's "Weather Guard" in MA & RI & CT.
Here's where CoCoRaHS comes in. Anything you wanted to know about water in CT is here.
The Hydrologist at the Taunton/Boston Forecast office prepares a report, each month, just like this for the 8 counties in CT, by all of those time periods. AND does the same thing for the small state of RI, by 7?-or-so regions by those same time periods.
With no missing reports, you get a say, a voice, a vote, as to how much precip fell in Fairfield County. All from your 4" diameter gauge. The Power of CoCoRaHS. One small measurement to make. One giant impact that measurement has upon the millions that depend upon water.
We have catchy phrases that have been repeated through the network. "Be a hero. Report your zeros." "Every drop count and zeros do too!" Me, making a big deal about the tally of zeros for June. All of this is done in an attempt to get reporting for all days, no missing days. With no missing days, your station data increases in value, no one guesses about that missing report or reports, and you get value from it too. I count my zeros at the end of a time period. The usual tally is about 200+ zeros in 12 months. I count the longest string of consecutive zeros.
Don't forget, you can report midnight to midnight with them.
And remember, organizations look at CoCoRaHS reports including National Hurricane Centers, River Hydrologists, Mosquito control, ect. (4:00 into video)
I prefer midnight to midnight. But if I still used my regular rain gauge I'd probably feel differently. I bought a rain gauge after the 13+ inch deluge we had in 2014, I don't think I've received more than 2 inches in a single storm since then though. I've since upgraded to a digital gauge, I hated it at first since it was a pain to calibrate, but I love it now.
I prefer midnight to midnight. But if I still used my regular rain gauge I'd probably feel differently. I bought a rain gauge after the 13+ inch deluge we had in 2014, I don't think I've received more than 2 inches in a single storm since then though. I've since upgraded to a digital gauge, I hated it at first since it was a pain to calibrate, but I love it now.
Exactly what I'm doing. I'm using my weather station (digital) rain gauge to tell me what my daily midnight to midnight is but using my manuals for the 24hr total.
I realized that it's easier to empty and look at a rain gauge at 6-8am rather than midnight so I've gotten used to the 24hr total thing.
On top of that, when you realize the digital ones don't catch the sideways rains or downpours "as well", you'll want to consider using a manual one too.
I remember that 13" event there. Sick. That reminds me of what actually started the CoCoRaHS network. There was a local flood in Colorado and someone wanted to know what nearby towns got so he started investigating and to his surprise found the flood was very localized... Interesting story.
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Originally Posted by ral31
I got the 4 inch rain gauge today!
Nice!! Exciting isn't it? Did you set it up yet? There's some nice YouTube videos on it.
I had to move mine since my neighbor planted a tree near it. Are you planning to report with the network? They need more from down there. Sending you a PM
Nice!! Exciting isn't it? Did you set it up yet? There's some nice YouTube videos on it.
I had to move mine since my neighbor planted a tree near it. Are you planning to report with the network? They need more from down there. Sending you a PM
I still need to get it set up. I'll try reporting to the network once I do.
Yeah I see where no one reports nearby...
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