CoCoRaHS looking for weather observers in Fulton, Cass counties

Monday, September 1, 2025 at 9:05 AM

By Staff report

The National Weather Service is seeking more weather observers across Indiana to join the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, known as CoCoRaHS.

Volunteers in this network are responsible for reporting daily precipitation totals.

The National Weather Service highlighted a particular need for observers in several counties including Fulton.

Participants will require a special rain gauge, and online training courses are available. Observers are needed in many counties throughout Indiana. Ideally, in order to get the spatial resolution desired the National Weather Service needs at least 10 observers per county. The majority of counties have less than this. As of August 9, 2025 there were 2 or fewer active observers in Fulton, Cass and 14 other counties.

CoCoRaHS is a non-profit community based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure precipitation. The network originated at Colorado State University in 1988 and has expanded to many thousands of observers throughout the United States and beyond.

This is a community project. The only requirements are: 1) access to the CoCoRaHS website to submit your report, 2) an approved rain gauge (you can purchase one from the CoCoRaHS Store), and 3) enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions, as well as a desire to learn more about how weather can effect our lives. The ultimate goal of the program is to have one observer per square mile in urban/suburban areas and one observer every 36 square miles in rural areas.

Once trained, volunteers collect data using tools such as a 4-inch diameter rain gauge (see picture below).

Visit the CoCoRaHS home page and fill out an application. All new observers in Indiana are encouraged to attend a training session, either a live session/walk-in training session (such as with a county coordinator) or online training via the CoCoRaHS website. Please see the Indiana page on the CoCoRaHs site for more information. Online training slideshows and videos are available on the CoCoRaHS page and on the NWS Indianapolis YouTube page.

CoCoRaHS in Indiana is made possible by: The Indiana State Climate Office at Purdue University and the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis.