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CoCoRaHS -- Thanksgiving Update

Fort Collins, Colorado -- November 23rd, 2016

Greetings to all,

As we prepare for our annual Thanksgiving celebration here in the U.S. I give thanks for the efforts all of you have made, now and in the past, to share a little of your time to help track precipitation.  The daily precipitation maps with so many colored dots each day are a testimony to the value of what we do.  Thank you so much!

We’re not traveling anywhere this year but we are cooking dinner.  I make the cranberry relish, the stuffing and the big bird.  My wife does most of the rest including awesome dinner rolls, pumpkin custard and the best gravy ever.  It brings back fond memories from when our kids were young, when we first got married (the weekend before Thanksgiving 35 years ago), finding rides home from college on the “ride-share” bulletin board in the Student Union – and then longer ago still -- when my grandparents were still alive and my mom did most of the cooking.  No time for long reminiscing, but that’s part of what makes Thanksgiving special for some of us as we get older.
Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like if we could get the whole CoCoRaHS team together for dinner.  We would need a moderate sized football stadium and their concession stands all open for business.  Or, if we invited our families we would need something as large as “The Big House” (Univ. of Michigan’s stadium where I got to witness Woody Hayes have one of his sideline temper tantrums many years ago (1971? – maybe one of you were there that day, too.  Seems like we eeked out a victory) in one of the classic Michigan-Ohio State rival games —which, by the way, is coming up soon).

The chances of getting us all together for a giant stadium dinner are nil, but it’s fun to think about.

It's Snow Time!
Condition Monitoring - Great Job, BIG Help!
Comments Matter
Zeros Matter Too
Water Year Summary Reports - and Certificates!
Going South for the Winter?
Upcoming Webinars for You
Fund Raiser Just Around the Corner!
Farm Story



It’s Snow Time – Are You Ready?
The snow season had started slowly this fall, but that all changed this past week.  Over the course of the last few days, hundreds of us have had our first snow.  At least 50 CoCoRaHS stations got off with a bang with over a foot from the first snow – with closer to 18” in parts of Minnesota last weekend, and similar amounts in upstate New York and parts of New England this week.
For the most part, observers did a good job measuring and reporting this snow, but as usual there were challenges.  Snow melts, settles, blows and drifts. It clogs our gauges, sticks to the rim or simply blows around the gauge.  Taking really good snow measurements is a combination of training, experience, science, art and diligence.  Some element of “intelligent approximation” may be needed – especially in situations of wind-blown snow or mixed precipitation.  
There is an element of risk associated with going out into the slippery ice and snow on cold, dark winter mornings.  As exciting as it may be to experience winter storms, we don’t want anyone slipping and falling trying to get a measurement.  While we love your snow reports, please don’t risk getting hurt!  We’re all getting older and some of us (like me after my torn tendon this year) don’t have the balance and agility we once had.  So please be careful.  If you feel it is best to sit out the winter snow measurements and take a break until spring, that’s totally OK.  We trust you to make the best decision for you.
Whether you are new to measuring snow and ice, or a long timer, it’s still worth reviewing the instructions so we’re all on the same page.  Our various videos, animations and slideshow presentations try to cover most any situation you’ll encounter.  But if you just like basic written instructions, here you are - from a "Catch" of many years ago.  Also, I co-authored a book 20 years ago with Art Judson (fellow CoCoRaHS observer) before CoCoRaHS ever existed - which is now free to download through this link.
Finally, why do we fuss so much about this?  It’s because snow and ice are really important parts of our climate.  Snow and ice affect transportation, public utilities, public safety, agriculture and many businesses.  Snow recreation is big business. Snow is difficult to measure electronically, and few weather stations report it or report it accurately.  CoCoRaHS and the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Network are the overall best sources of long term snow measurements.  That’s why it’s important that we do a good job.


Condition Monitoring – GREAT JOB, BIG HELP!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!.  Since we launched “Condition Monitoring” in October as an easy way to provide local perspective on how wet, dry or near average your area appears to be, we’ve had excellent response with nearly 4000 reports (which are are available to view here).  Many of you in the drought-stricken Southeast have provided incredibly useful comments on the impacts of the dryness there – the fires, the smoke, the agricultural problems, etc.  This is exactly what we had in mind.
It looks like we’re also going to be able to create a new set of maps to access condition reports geographically. Stand by for updates as we work with the University of South Carolina on this endeavor.


Comments Matter
CoCoRaHS Observation Comments AnimationAs more and more people use the CoCoRaHS iPhone or Android apps to enter data, fewer of us had been taking the time to enter “Comments” on our daily reports.  This trend seems to have reversed lately as we have tried to emphasize the use and value of your comments.  Here is an example today from Wisconsin.  “Rain/sleet/snow off and on during day on 11/22 and all snow evening, then turned back to drizzle/sleet overnight on 11/23”   Your comments bring your numeric observation to life.  To learn more, here is a recent animation we produced.  To view comments from anywhere in CoCoRaHS land, go to “View Data” and select “Daily Comments”.  Thanks again.


Zeros Matter Too
If you’ve been a part of CoCoRaHS long, you know I sound like a broken record.  But for the many of you who are new, you may not fully appreciate that it is really, really helpful (and easy) to report  0.00” each day that it doesn’t rain.  Zero is important data that assure that our maps and reports are complete and accurate.  Remember, our daily precipitation reports default to zero so all you have to do is hit "submit" on dry days.  Also, you can go back at any time and use our "Monthly Zeros" calendar to enter data for previous dry days (found in the left-hand menu of your data entry page).

I just checked some recent reports and was delighted to see on November 11 (a very dry day across the country).  Over 9,500 of us submitted our zeros that day -- good job!


Water Year Summary reports - and Certificates!
In early November we updated all the water year summary reports for about 21,000 stations that reported this past year,  Here is the link to view any station in our database.  We also produced certificates of appreciation.  To find your certificate, click on 'My Account' and look towards the upper right portion of the page (under 2016 Water Year) for the word 'certificate'.





Going South for the Winter?
Quite a few of us migrate with the seasons and head south for the winter.  Did you know you can take your gauge with you?  You may have more than one station location associated with your account.  Just let us know by sending an e-mail to info@cocorahs.org and we can set you up with a station name and number for your southern station, too


Upcoming Webinars for You
Register for the next WebinarWe have some really great educational webinars coming up in the next few weeks.  First, on Dec 1 we’ll have a chance to learn about the incredibly useful climate analysis and mapping system developed at Oregon State University and known as PRISM.  We’ll be hearing directly from the founder and creator of this climate mapping system. Click here to get registered.
Then on January 19 we’ll have a chance to hear from a satellite meteorologist who can answer all your questions about the recently launched super-high resolution geostationary satellite, GOES-R which is touted to likely revolutionize weather analysis and forecasting.  Stay tuned for the registration link.


Fund Raiser Just Around the Corner
A year passes so quickly and it’s almost time for our next year-end fund raiser.   Expect to hear from me next week.


Farm Story
Not too much to report.  Since Casey was resettled to Wyoming, the rest of our cats are much more relaxed (read prior e-mails for the rest of that story).  Despite a warm autumn (warmest October here in Fort Collins in the 128 years we’ve kept records), our horses have their thick winter coats and look ready for winter.  We’ve had a couple of nights now with the temperature dipping into the upper teens.  Our big Aussie, Terra, is still preferring to sleep outside at night, but when I got up at 5 AM this morning, he made a bold and successful rush for the door and squeezed inside.  We don’t light our chicken coop at night, so our hens are taking a break from laying.  They deserve it, I reckon.

Our first snow of the season came last Thursday – just 2” but some welcome moisture.  Monday night we got 0.23” of rain – not much by some of your standards but enough to settle the dust – much appreciated.  Tomorrow we’ll see just how well it settled the dust as the forecast is calling for 45 mph gusts on Thanksgiving day.  I would prefer not to have a dusty Thanksgiving.

I did want to mention that my trip to Wisconsin went very well.  In addition to helping our daughter and family get settled in their new (to them) old house, I also got to pay scheduled (or surprise) visits to 5 CoCoRaHS volunteers.  My favorite was our long-time observer in Viroqua.  She invited me to bring my grandson along and we all had a wonderful time enjoying late autumn sunshine, running through piles of leaves, playing with her cat, and blowing bubbles.  We’re never too old to blow bubbles.


Happy Thanksgiving to all!


Sincerely,

Nolan Doesken and the CoCoRaHS team
NOAA’s Weather Ready Nation Ambassador Program
Colorado State University
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