Monday, October 20, 2008

Setting the record straight

I really didn't want to post tonight and dwarf the amazing picture below that I took of Samson in the air. He is such a funny little man (dog) and he loves that frisbee almost as much as his peanut butter frozen tasties.

But I digress.

I have taken a good bit of ribbing about my amazing weather acumen. Srsly, people seek me out for my crazy accurate weather forecasting savvy. So many inquiries, so little time. So it should be of no surprise that I looked for additional outlets to share my unique talents and gifts. When I stumbled upon CoCoRaHS, I knew that I found some like-minded people, or in twitter talk, my peeps.

What is CoCoRaHS? From their website:
CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. We currently operate in many states across the country. If we are not in your state please drop us a line and let us know that you have an interest in participating. This helps us know where a desire exists for the network and where to focus our future expansion efforts.

So what is my role?
Each time a rain, hail or snow storm crosses your area, volunteers take measurements of precipitation from as many locations as possible (see equipment). These precipitation reports are then recorded on our Web site www.cocorahs.org. The data are then displayed and organized for many of our end users to analyze and apply to daily situations ranging from water resource analysis and severe storm warnings to neighbors comparing how much rain fell in their backyards.

There is SO much more but I will share all my roles as the weather changes and new exciting events require reporting. And I will be certain to share it with you, average weather follower. I know what it must be like, living in the darkness of not understanding weather and related activity. That's why you have me, dear readers.

Last Sunday, Paul put up the precipitation gauge and tonight, I reported my first round of measurable precipitation. Rain. Woo hoo! Oh yeah, I am cooking with gas now. (Well figuratively, not literally since, well you know, I don't cook. At all.)

Of course, I am all about blogs, so you can read their blog here - Blog. And Henry, I can measure ALL precipitation - rain, hail and snow. And when it stops raining, I will post some pics and demos of how my precipitation gauge works.

Good night from station MI-KN-34 in East Grand Rapids.

7 comments:

Henry said...

Ok, you win!! You ARE the ultimate weather nerd.

Jennifer said...

So what was the official reading at station MI-KN-34?

Joy'l Ver Heul said...

how fun! i'm going to check out that web site for weather from now on because it's going to be WAY more accurate. i love the collaboration of it all. happy gauge-ing!

Lisa said...

Me thinks your rain gauge would perish of loneliness out here in God's Brown Earth. Is there a corresponding way to measure sunshine?

L.

Paul's Blog said...

L.,
Your are being a facilitator. Stop encouraging the Maven's behavior. Seriously...

PK

Henry said...

Paul,
Don't worry, it will soon be winter in West Michigan. What's sunshine??? The Maven will be busy measuring (maybe even shoveling) snow.
Grass Dr.

Lisa said...

Deirdre? Shovel? Isn't that what she has Paul for? I'm sure that's considered "dirty man work."

I don't own a shovel.

L.