Weclome to the 'Cuckoo for CoCoRaHS in the Carolinas' blog!

This blog is part of a project that a team from the Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments(CISA) is conducting to learn more about how citizen scientists can contribute to our understanding of the connections between weather, climate and the environment. We are working with several partners on this project to include the National Drought Information System, the South Carolina State Climatology Office, the North Carolina State Climate Office, as well as state and regional CoCoRaHS coordinators in North and South Carolina.

Volunteers are using tools developed by CoCoRaHS to measure daily precipitation and enter weekly ‘condition monitoring’ reports. CoCoRaHS observers volunteer to measure daily precipitation and enter it into the online CoCoRaHS database to be used by a host of different organizations and agencies such as state climate offices, the National Weather Service, outdoor and recreation businesses, and emergency managers, among many others.

For our project, we are recruiting CoCoRaHS observers to take on the additional task of considering how daily precipitation affects the plants, animals and people in their local community. Observers use the Drought Impact Report form on the CoCoRaHS website to enter brief descriptions of things in their area such as how well their gardens are doing, how high water levels are in nearby rivers, lakes, or streams, or how rainfall, or a lack thereof, might be effecting local businesses. They check the ‘condition monitoring’ box on the Drought Impact Report form to note that their entry is part of a regular series of observations. By entering reports regularly, observers can begin to make connections between their local environment and different weather conditions or seasonal changes.

If you would like to be a part of this project, let us know! Anyone who is a current CoCoRaHS observer or who would like to become one is welcome to participate. Give us a shout if you'd like to learn more.