[Ccarc] Winter Weather Classes NWS

[Tom Murray]

Info from NWS ...........Tom  KB9WSL


Winter Weather Spotter and CoCoRaHS Training Scheduled - We need your help!

The National Weather Service in Northern Indiana will once again be 
conducting Winter Weather Spotter Training sessions this fall at various 
locations across the region. For locations in Indiana, special training for 
the new Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) will 
be offered. CoCoRaHS is a grassroots network of volunteer rain and snow 
observers of any age across the country. Anyone willing to become a CoCoRaHS 
observer will be asked to stay after the Winter Spotter Training for an 
additional 30 minute training session. CoCoRaHS observers will receive a 
free, official NWS 4 inch rain gauge which is required to participate in 
CoCoRaHS. More information on CoCoRaHS can be found at 
http://www.cocorahs.org.

The winter weather spotter training and CoCoRaHS training are both free and 
open to the general public. The winter weather portion of the training 
should take about one and a half hours. The CoCoRaHS training will last 
about another 30 minutes following a brief break. No specialized equipment 
is necessary to become a snow spotter, although snowboards and rain gauges 
are helpful.


A meteorologist from the National Weather Service will teach the classes. 
The NWS is attempting to expand its network of winter weather spotters to 
meet its goal of better warning and informing the public of hazardous winter 
weather conditions. The NWS is working with the Indiana State Climatologist 
at Purdue to expand the CoCoRaHS program across Indiana. We hope to expand 
this program into Ohio and Michigan in the future.


The training objectives for the winter weather class are to teach spotters 
how and when to measure and report winter weather phenomena; to train 
spotters to be able to differentiate between the various winter weather 
precipitation types; and to train spotters on how to expediently report 
their observation to the NWS. The CoCoRaHS training uses similar objectives, 
but also focuses on rainfall measuring and reporting to the CoCoRaHS 
website.




For a list of training locations and times, see our Events Calendar.




For more information on the program, visit our Winter Weather Spotter Page.

For more information on the CoCoRaHS program, contact our CoCoRaHS 
Coordinator.

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