Contributed report
Do you have an interest in the weather? Are you looking for a way to do something for the environment from your location? Or how about a great classroom or family activity that provides an easy way for kids to get involved with science? Volunteer as a rainfall monitor for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) coordinated through the state climatology office in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. For the past five years, Minnesota has won the “CoCoRaHS Cup” for recruiting the most new volunteers of any state during the month of March. “Thank you to the 573 Minnesotans who joined us last year and helped win the cup again. But we still need more rainfall monitors and you could be one of them,” officials said. The network includes more than 20,000 volunteers nationwide who measure rainfall in their backyards using a standard 4-inch diameter rain gauge and submit their reports online. The program also collects snowfall and reports hail among other weather observations. The data is used by the National Weather Service, researchers, cities, and a wide range of industries.