ST MATTHEWS, S.C. — Meteorologists get weather data from many sources. In major cities like Columbia, dedicated weather stations give us a clue to what is going on outside. For other cities, towns, and communities there isn't a source of weather information. This is where public volunteers come into the picture.
CoCoRaHS (the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network is a public partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that has more than 24,000 weather observers across the U.S. Here in South Carolina, the number of observers is right around 400. The program's goal is to provide meteorologist with rain, snow, and hail reports from as many places as possible to help better forecasting as well as recording of weather.
CoCoRaHS started in South Carolina in 2008 and St. Matthews resident Anne Nolte has been sending in her rain reports since the beginning.
“I have been interested in the weather for a long time… so we got us a heavy duty rain gauge and joined the CoCoRaHS network.”
She said her prior work in SCDNR involved the state climate office frequently so, when she retired, she wanted to still help out by providing weather data from Calhoun county.
“In Calhoun county there is only 3 of us who participate in the CoCoRaHS collection network… You’re given that reward so to speak after you input your data, you can see where it is and see how you compare with your neighbors, and it is real easy to do.”
The lack of observers in especially rural communities. During the month of March, the program is holding a recruitment push to add new observers.
According to Melissa Griffin the Assistant SC State Climatologist, being an observer is a very easy process. Along with a rain gauge, observers need to check the rainfall amounts on days when it rains.
This data, while it might not seem special, can be absolutely vital when looking at large weather events.
“The Floods in October of 2015, without having our CoCoRaHs observers a lot of the heavy rainfall totals that we have been able to analyze would have been missed.”
Melissa says, that looking at the difference at the NWS data from the event before and after was night and day and really shows how important the data can be.
With all of this being said, the state has decided to recognize these observers because of the important role they serve for the community.
Governor McMaster, declared this week South Carolina Citizen Weather Observer week which highlights the CoCoRahs observers as well as Skywarn and NWS Co-op reporters across the state for their part in helping bring us critical weather information.
The week runs from March 13-19th.
If you would like information on CoCoRaHS and how to sign up to be a weather observer you can visit the link here.
