Colorado State University looking for weather observers

Have you ever had an interest or fascination with the weather? If so, the Colorado Climate Center can use your help as a weather observer.

CoCoRaHS, or the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network was started back in 1998 at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

Since then, the grassroots volunteer network has grown to tens of thousands of observers across the U.S. and even into Canada. CoCoRaHS works closely with the national weather service to help the volunteers get set up with weather instruments. The CoCoRaHS network is always looking for more observers to join its program and provide more data.

 “Some of its main goals are to try to establish a more dense network of people taking rain and snow readings so we can get a better idea of what's actually falling out of the sky for more accurate reading. Tomorrow’s training is going to be conducted by Nolan Doesken. He’s the Colorado climatologist. He’s going to be here at our office giving CoCoRaHS training for those who are interested. It’s free training, so you can come out and join us for that”, explained John Kyle, Data Acquisition Program Manager at the Grand Rapids National Weather Service.

As an observer, you would use a 4-inch rain gauge to measure rain and the liquid equivalent of snow. You’d also use a snow stick to measure the depth of any new accumulating snowfall.

If you'd like to attend the training, it'll be from 10AM until noon on Tuesday at the National Weather Service office. The address is 2844 Aviators Way, right next to the Grand Junction Regional Airport.