Volunteers Track Various Snow Patterns From Blizzard, More Wanted For Future Storms

By Chris Spears

DENVER (CBS4) - Hundreds of volunteers along Colorado's Front Range and on the eastern plains were busy tracking this week's strong spring blizzard for an organization at Colorado State University.

The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, better known as CoCoRaHS, has been operating in Colorado since the late 1990s and now has volunteers in all 50 U.S. States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Their goal is to have a high density network of volunteers who monitor and track the various and often complex patterns in precipitation.

The data is helpful for many applications ranging from tracking drought to monitoring water resources and more.

Multiple volunteers are welcome in the same area because rain and snow can vary so much over such short distances, especially in a place with terrain as complex as Colorado.

Becoming a volunteer is easy and only requires something to measure the snow with and a CoCoRaHS rain gauge.

To learn more about CoCoRaHS click here.

Meteorologist Chris Spears writes about stories related to weather and climate in Colorado. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.