Call for Cocorahs Volunteers

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA

330 PM EST TUE DEC 20 2011

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY REQUESTS VOLUNTEERS

TO JOIN THE COCORAHS NETWORK...

...THE SIGN UP LINK IS OPEN AND AVAILABLE TO GEORGIA RESIDENTS...

THE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE RAIN, HAIL AND SNOW NETWORK…KNOWN AS

COCORAHS…IN AN EFFORT TO EXPAND COVERAGE ACROSS GEORGIA…IS SEEKING

VOLUNTEER OBSERVERS. THESE OBSERVERS ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE COCORAHS

PROGRAM…AS THEY RECORD PRECIPITATION INFORMATION USING A FOUR INCH RAIN

GAUGE AND VISUAL OBSERVATIONS. THE DATA ARE ENTERED DAILY ONTO THE

COCORAHS WEBSITE.

YOU CAN LET THE WORLD KNOW HOW MUCH RAIN...HAIL OR SNOW YOU RECEIVED IN

YOUR BACKYARD BY JOINING COCORAHS. THIS PROGRAM WILL HELP METEOROLOGISTS...

HYDROLOGISTS…RESEARCHERS...THE MEDIA AND OTHERS SEE AND STUDY THE

VARIABILITY OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS GEORGIA. THE PRECIPITATION DATA WILL BE

AVAILABLE ONLINE…AND IF YOU ENTER OBSERVATIONS BETWEEN 700 AM AND 800 AM…

THE DATA WILL BE USED TO QUALITY CONTROL RADAR PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES FOR

USE IN MODELS WHICH FORECAST THE RIVER LEVELS. VISUAL SNOWFALL OBSERVATIONS

ARE CRITICAL DURING THE WINTER MONTHS AS NO AUTOMATED GAUGE RECORDS FREEZING

OR FROZEN PRECIPITATION ACCURATELY IN REAL TIME.

COCORAHS BEGAN IN 1998 AFTER HEAVY RAINFALL IN FORT COLLINS COLORADO CAUSED

DEVASTATING FLOODS. SINCE THEN...THE COCORAHS NETWORK HAS GROWN TO INCLUDE

OVER 20000 OBSERVERS IN ALL 50 STATES INCLUDING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND

CANADA.

RECRUITING AND TRAINING PRESENTATIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE COCORAHS WEBSITE.

PLEASE VISIT WWW.COCORAHS.ORG TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM. YOU MAY

USE THE JOIN COCORAHS LINK TO SIGN UP AS AN OBSERVER... AND YOU CAN START SENDING

IN YOUR DAILY OBSERVATIONS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE THE OFFICIAL FOUR INCH RAIN GAUGE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN COCORAHS...BECAUSE EVERY DROP COUNTS.

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office