SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report

Sections

Status: Approved

Basic Information

Participants

Akyuz, Adnan (adnan.akyuz@ndsu.edu) - ND State Univ.; Ash, Guy (guy_ash@weatherfarm.com)  Weatherfarm/Manitoba CA;Bergantino, Tony (antonius@uwyo.edu) - Univ. of Wyoming;Daly, Chris, (Chris.daly@oregonstate.edu)  PRISM/Oregon State University;Davies, Robert (robert.davies@usu.edu) - Utah State Univ.;Dello, Kathi, (kdello@coas.oregonstate.edu) Oregon State Univ.;Doesken, Nolan (nolan@atmos.colostate.edu) - CoCoRaHS HQ;Edwards, Laura, (laura.edwards@sdstate.edu)  South Dakota State Univ.;Gerbush, Mat (gerbush@cep.rutgers.edu) - Rutgers Univ.;Goble, Peter (qc@cocorahs.org) - CoCoRaHS HQ;Gray, Randy, (randall.gray@noaa.gov)  NWS Pueblo;Griffin, Melissa (griffin@coaps.fsu.edu) - Florida State Univ.;Hilberg, Steve (hberg@uiuc.edu) - MRCC/Illinois State Water;Jones, Jim (jim.jones@noaa.gov) - NOAA/NWS - Training Ctr.;Knapp, Mary (mknapp@ksu.edu) - Kansas State Univ.;Korzeniewski , Bryant (Bryant.korzeniewski@noaa.gov) - NOAA/NCDC;Lawrimore, Jay (jay.lawrimore@noaa.gov) - NOAA/NCDC;Reges, Henry (henry.reges@colostate.edu) - CoCoRaHS HQ;Sass, Alison (alison_sass@weatherfarm.com) Weatherfarm/Manitoba, CA;Schwalbe, Zach (zach@cocorahs.org) - CoCoRaHS HQ;Selover, Nancy (selover@asu.edu) - Arizona State Univ.;Turner, Julian (julian.turner@colostate.edu) - CoCoRaHS HQ;Sorensen, Bill (wsorensen1@unl.edu) -- Univ. of Nebraska;Zdrojewski, Jim (james.zdrojewski@noaa.gov) - NOAA/NWS HQ

The 2012 WERA-1012 Committee meeting was held in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies 16-18 May 2012. During the meeting, the vision of the future of CoCoRaHS was laid out through a series of discussions and presentations pertaining to various enhancements that could be made because of new funding that had been secured. These enhancements include data analysis, mapping, usability, data entry, etc. Perspectives from the states represented were given, with a common theme being the need for continued communication not only with the participants, but also with the various levels of coordinators from the regional to the local levels. There were also presentations given that described some of the additional networks that exist and the different things they have had to overcome and the types of audiences they serve. Uses of the data from the CoCoRaHS network were also discussed with emphasis on needing to show its value. Again the need for communication and education arose, for example stressing to participants the value that an observation of 0.0 has. The subcommittees that had been established previously gave updates as to their progress. (See the Accomplishments section for the actions of these subcommittees.) The active committees are: 1) Committee for Precipitation; 2) Measurement; 3) Training and Education; 4) CoCoRaHS/COOP Collaboration; 5) Sustainability/Funding; 6) NWS COOP 125th Anniversary Planning; 7) CoCoRaHS March Madness Regulations; and 8) Web Design Detailed minutes of discussions are attached.
[Minutes]

Accomplishments

1. The WERA 1012 coordination effort continued to effectively connect NOAA's (National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center) Cooperative Program leaders with data users and CoCoRaHS data collectors. 2. CoCoRaHS expanded to Manitoba, Canada this past year, and two representatives of the CoCoRaHS Canada team attended their first WERA 1012 meeting. 3. The CoCoRaHS PRISM Portal was launched in 2012, allowing observers the opportunity to view historical data for perspective around their station. This gives the observers a chance to see the historical record, compare it to their existing data, demonstrate the variability of rainfall and why their observations continue to be important. 4. As part of planned improvements to the CoCoRaHS website, the mapping system went through a major update in 2012. The new mapping system, powered by Google Maps, is more interactive than the previous system, allowing users and observers the ability to zoom into locations. This new system will allow for additional features to be easily added in the future. The old mapping system is still in place and available on the CoCoRaHS website, for those users not interested in the new system. 5. The Five for CoCoRaHS fundraising campaign was able to collect $36,000 in donations for 2012. No new grants were obtained in 2012 but efforts to secure additional funding will be required beginning in 2013 6. CoCoRaHS, under the leadership of Colorado State University, was the western regional recipient of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities' (APLU) 2012 Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award. The APLU gives out awards for five different categories (Northeast, South, North Central, West and the 1890 university community), 7. Starting in 2011 and continuing through 2012, Nolan Doesken and Henry Reges attended and presented talks about the program in places such as the AMS Weather Fest (LA), the National Association of Conservation Districts (NV), National Flood Workshop (TX), along with a variety of other training sessions and localized Weather Fest activities across the U.S.

Impacts

  1. CoCoRaHS data are now routinely archived and made available through NOAAs National Climatic Data Center. It is a part of the Global Historical Climate Network GHCN), is now subjected to the same quality control measures as the NWS Cooperative Network, and is available to users through the NCDC data access systems. CoCoRaHS data are also now available along with NWS COOP data via the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS)
  2. Thanks to the efforts of this committee, many of the training resources of the National Weather Service Training Center (Kansas City) are available to support both the COOP network and CoCoRaHS. Likewise, new training animations produced by the CoCoRaHS team are enhancing measurement training for new volunteers and referesher snow measurement training for existing volunteer data collectors
  3. Data quality continues to improve thanks in part to the efforts of the QC committee and further implementation of the QC ticketing system in 9 CoCoRaHS states
  4. Despite funding challenges, the NWS Cooperative Program continues to deliver critical nationwide long-term data for research, education and business applications  which it has now for nearly 125 years. Most of this data collection is now paperless and updated daily  greatly streamlining data collection, processing and distribution
  5. To help meet the needs of the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) daily observations from all available reporting stations  including the NWS COOP network and CoCoRaHS  the PRISM Climate Group are developing a mapping and customized data delivery system that is improving the administration of federal crop insurance and could save farmers /ranchers and tax payers tens of millions of dollars
  6. Drought Impact reports from the CoCoRaHS network are feeding directly to the National Drought Mitigation Center (Univ. of Nebraska) to enhance drought monitoring and reporting capabilities
  7. National Weather Service (NWS) in every county warning area of the country are able to ingest the significant weather event reports (hail, intense rain, localized flooding) from CoCoRaHS observers to assist NWS forecasters issuing and verifying watches and warnings for severe thunderstorms in their respective areas
  8. Volunteer weather observers now number well over 20,000 (combining NWS COOP and CoCoRaHS) producing a rich and spatial dense data source and also leading to enhanced climate literacy for a growing segment of the U.S. population

Publications

Reges, H., and Nolan Doesken, 2011: Creating a Volunteer Observing Network. WMO Bulletin, Volume 60(1) - 2011. Reges, H., and Nolan Doesken, 2010: The Value of the Citizen Weather Observer. Weatherwise magazine, November-December, 2010.
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