Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2012 WERA-1012 Committee meeting was held in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies 15-17 May 2013. A variety of topics were discussed during the three-day meeting. The first day was spent focusing on the new goals and objectives that have been adopted by the group for the next 5-years. These goals include: 1. Promote volunteer precipitation observations as a cost effective approach to monitoring a highly variable and critically important element of our climate. 2. Develop and coordinate protocols for volunteer precipitation measurements that meet state, regional, national and international needs. 3. Improve data quality from volunteer networks through program leadership, training resources and QA/QC methods. 4. Improve climate monitoring capabilities and applications through supplementing existing observing networks. 5. Educate scientists and climate data users on the value and applications of high-density precipitation observations. In keeping with the theme of the future of the WERA group, the proposed changes and restructuring of the website and database were discussed. Functionality was the key idea with the new design, which will be tested by current coordinators and observers before going live. A theme that is discussed at most of the annual WERA meetings is the current status, health and future of the National Weather Service Cooperative (COOP) Network. CoCoRaHS, along with other MesoNets and observing programs, currently help compliment and supplement the data being collected by COOP. Based on the information reported, the proposed cuts to the number of reporting stations in the COOP program have been shelved, but the is still an effort to clean up the program. Revitalizing and redefining some of the subcommittees were tasks that came out of the decisions during the subcommittee discussions. Focus was given to the Quality Control, Snow Measurements and Education Subcommittees, as both gave lengthy presentations of their accomplishments and tribulations over the previous year. Continual funding for the CoCoRaHS program has provided challenges and the Sustainability Subcommittee will look into new avenues to secure a future for the program. . The idea of a National CoCoRaHS Conference was mentioned as a way to celebrate the program and thank the observers for their continued participation in the network.

ET Gauges: After WERA last year, ET was added to the CoCoRaHS program with the atmometers. Some atmometers were sponsored by CoCoRaHS HQ and were distributed to interested state coordinators. In addition to those supplied atmometers, observers across the U.S. purchased their own (at $218) to take part in the observing the other side of the water cycle. Currently, ET measurements are being reported from 34 different states. PRISM Portal: The CoCoRaHS Climate Portal is now available to observers and allows them to explore the climate of their location based on the PRISM data, created by the PRISM Group out of Oregon State University. This interactive tool allows users to examine the normal 30-year rainfall statistics for their station, along with time series analysis tools. Alternative Training Methods: With the help of an animator, some of the training slide shows have been turned into animated shorts, which make them more entertaining and appealing to new observers. The ease of animation has allowed for some of the more cumbersome snow observation topics to be explained, since the animator can create the necessary scenarios. In addition to training modules, animations have been created for the water cycle and for a basic introduction to the program and its importance. WxTalk Webinars: Started in December 2011, the WxTalk Webinars have become a monthly educational tool for the program. About 20 talks have been completed and talks are scheduled to continue monthly through the end of 2013. Topics covered during these webinars have covered climate variability, drought, flooding, tornadoes, clouds, optics, hurricanes and more. On average 175 people sign up to take part in the webinar, which features a 40 minute talk by a guest presenter, and allows for the audience to ask questions and interact with the guest. The webinars are then archived on the CoCoRaHS YouTube channel. Recruitment: After slow recruitment years of 2011 and 2012, the number of new observers started to climb in 2013, thanks in part to the March Madness recruitment drive. During March 2013, over 1200 new observers joined the program, making it the best March Madness in the programs history.

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