Brief by Central Staff
Climate – June 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
As Mark Twain didn’t say, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” (Although this is often attributed to Twain, it actually came from Charles Dudley Warner, his collaborator on The Gilded Age.)
Even though it’s still rather difficult to do much about the weather, area residents now have an opportunity to go beyond just talking about the weather.
Colorado State University, home of the Colorado Climate Center, is looking for people around here to participate in CoCoRaHS: the Community Collaborate Rain and Hail Study, which already has more than 900 volunteers elsewhere in the state.
Participants get a backyard rain gauge, and collect information about rain, snow, and hail. They transmit the information via telephone or computer to the Climate Center, which prepares detailed maps to assist scientists and water managers. The maps are available to the public.
Currently, there aren’t many volunteers along the Arkansas, even though the basin’s “diverse and extreme weather is a challenge to climatologists and has a direct effect on urban water supplies, fire danger, surface water, groundwater, industry, soils, crops, livestock and wildlife,” according to Nolan Doesken, program director.
Volunteers do need a short training session. If you’re interested, go to the website at cocorahs.org, or contact Jane Wustrow at 719-543-8386 ext. 4.