Released: February 18, 2005

Kansas Volunteers to Expand Knowledge of State Weather

MANHATTAN, Kan. – One of the newest approaches in understanding weather isn’t a satellite or some computerized, ocean-reading buoy. Rather, it’s a return to the very roots of what over the past century became the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS).

“Those roots were ordinary people – the kind who liked to measure every snow and rainfall in their back yard. We still have handwritten reports from those pioneers in the Kansas Weather Data Library – which is housed at Kansas State University in its Research and Extension division,” said Mary Knapp, State of Kansas climatologist.

Today’s new grass-roots weather initiative started in Colorado and already has spread to Wyoming and Nebraska. The NWS’s Goodland office is now expanding the effort into Kansas.

The program trains volunteers to collect daily rain, hail and/or snow data. The volunteers will expand what’s known about those weather phenomena on a more localized basis, said Logan Johnson, coordinator for the Kansas effort.

The original project had Colorado in its name, but the expanding CoCoRaHS program stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Its slogan: “Because every drop counts.”

As volunteers report data to the network, the maps on the CoCoRaHS Web site (http://ks.cocorahs.org) picture each state’s changing “real-time” weather conditions. Currently, those maps also indicate that New Mexico and Texas are likely to join the network soon.

“The volunteers are not only contributing to our scientific knowledge on an organized basis, but also providing a beneficial daily service for other state residents,” Knapp said.

Johnson already has scheduled the first Kansas training session for March 3 in Goodland. He hopes eventually to spread the network statewide.

“I’m particularly excited about the fact they’ll be collecting hail data in a new way,” Knapp said. “The volunteers will have a board on which hail makes an actual impression as it hits the surface. Rather than trying to determine whether hail is golf ball size or dime size, the data collectors will be getting a much better, much more scientific image of the damage being done.”

Kansans interested in learning more about what’s involved in CoCoRaHS or about future training possibilities can contact Johnson on the CoCoRaHS Web site (click on Kansas in the map), via e-mail (logan.johnson@noaa.gov ) or by phone (785-899-7119).

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News