How Citizen Scientists Can Help the National Weather Service Track Weather Patterns

As summer descends on us winter-weary Minnesotans, so does severe weather season. The months of May to August are typically when we see the highest chances of thunderstorms and tornadoes, with June and July being generally the most active months for regular storms. As we navigate these storms, one of the ways the National Weather Service (NWS) has been able to get and analyze information and trends is through active citizen scientists who volunteer as part of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). Here in Minnesota, the State Climatology Office is putting out the call for more participants to join the program.

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The National Weather Service, which operates as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is responsible for providing real-time weather alerts for events like floods, hurricanes, severe storms, tornadoes, blizzards, and extreme heat—information that is necessary for public safety and vital for saving lives across the country. Unfortunately, the agency has faced drastic cuts from the Trump administration, losing hundreds of positions. While the NWS has received permission to hire back some of those positions, it’s been a difficult and slow process for the agency to fill all the openings, leaving states and local governments scrambling to pick up the slack.

According to Minnesota State Climatologist Luigi Romolo, one way to fill in these gaps (particularly those in state weather tracking and precipitation maps) is through the information collected through community volunteers working with CoCoRaHS.

“The data also allows us to better assess drought conditions and flooding events,” Romolo told Twin Cities Geek. “Further … volunteers can also contribute to what we call condition monitoring. This is where volunteers can type in qualitative information about their current weather conditions and provide information that we may not necessarily be able to measure with instruments.” Over time, the data collected through CoCoRaHS from volunteers across the state (and country) could also provide valuable insight into our changing climate.

So, what do volunteers do?

Essentially, all volunteers need to do is set up a rain gauge in a location where they can easily access it and take measurements. Ideally, precipitation measurements would be collected daily (including entering zeros on days when there is no precipitation), but Romolo recognizes that that’s not always possible:

“Folks go on vacation or go to the cabin on weekends,” Romolo said. “All we truly expect from our volunteers is that they measure what they can when they can. We have teachers who set up gauges at schools, and they only report on weekdays and from fall through spring.”

While the NWS still has satellites and other high-tech ways of tracking trends despite cuts, this real-time data collected on the ground by everyday volunteers is still one of the best ways to help scientists keep up with weather patterns and the changing climate. And, it’s simply a good way to bring the community and families together.

“In addition to helping make a difference,” Romolo added, “this is a great way in which to get kids involved in real science operations. Kids get very excited about reading rain gauges after it rains, and when that data is entered, it is then used by scientists across the country.”

If you’d like to get involved, sign up to join the program on the CoCoRaHS website.