03-27-2022, 08:13 AM
Since fall of 2007, I have been reporting precipitation or lack thereof on a daily basis (so for over 5000 days). I have a rain gauge that can hold up to 11 inches. Should we get an inundation of rain in a short period of time, I report it immediately so as to alert local weather folks of possible impending floods. That "instant reporting" is very helpful especially during times when we are having a hurricane because life threatening floods are very real and need to be observed and warnings issued in real-time.
With this reporting which is being contributed to by thousands of volunteers across the country, it makes drought predictions or probabilities easier based on patterns built on actual data compiled over decades. We report rain, snow, hail, ice or zero.
The program to which I contribute is CoCoRaHS (https://www.cocorahs.org/) which was started by a group of professors at Colorado State University in 1998. It has been fun and something I totally enjoy being a part of. Climatologists and meteorologists across the country study the data and I have no doubt find it very useful.
That likely contributed amongst other things to decent predictions that are based on precipitation records and patterns.
That's my two cents worth.
With this reporting which is being contributed to by thousands of volunteers across the country, it makes drought predictions or probabilities easier based on patterns built on actual data compiled over decades. We report rain, snow, hail, ice or zero.
The program to which I contribute is CoCoRaHS (https://www.cocorahs.org/) which was started by a group of professors at Colorado State University in 1998. It has been fun and something I totally enjoy being a part of. Climatologists and meteorologists across the country study the data and I have no doubt find it very useful.
That likely contributed amongst other things to decent predictions that are based on precipitation records and patterns.
That's my two cents worth.