The program for the evening will be Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)
presented by Sam Lashley from the National Weather Service office in Northern Indiana
Volunteers Needed for Nationwide Rain and Snow Network
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) is
expanding across northern Indiana and volunteers are needed in Whitley and surrounding
counties. This nationwide project, located online at http://www.cocorahs.org, offers an
opportunity for anyone to become a volunteer observer of rain and snowfall.
Those attending a training session and signing an agreement form will be provided an official National Weather Service approved rain gauge for free.
In support of this expansion effort, the National Weather Service Northern Indiana Office, the Indiana State Climate Office at Purdue,
and the Whitley County Amateur Radio Club will host a CoCoRaHS training session Thursday, May 8th at 7:00 PM EDT
at the Peabody Library in Columbia City. The hands-on session, lasting around 90 minutes,
will educate volunteer observers on how to accurately set up and read their new rain gauges and report the data via the internet.
CoCoRaHS came to Indiana in February of 2006 and now has over 800 observers of all ages from across the Hoosier State.
Indiana is one of the fastest-growing networks and the first state
in the Midwest to join this nationwide network of nearly 10,000 volunteers across 29 states.
CoCoRaHS is a volunteer, grass-roots network dedicated to the monitoring of precious water resources across the country.
The public, and organizations involved in agriculture, public safety, and natural resources management will find great benefit from this data, available free of charge to all on the network website.
CoCoRaHS also represents an important new portion of nationwide drought monitoring and warning networks for flood monitoring and prediction services. Sam Lashley,
Northern Indiana network coordinator and Senior Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Northern Indiana Office,
says that the project will help forecasters pin point areas of drought, heavy rain and potential flooding.
“Flooding kills more people each year than tornadoes.
Timely and accurate reports from CoCoRaHS will aid us in predicting when and where dangerous flooding will occur.
During the summer of 2007, CoCoRaHS volunteers were crucial in helping determine areas that were experiencing drought, heavy rain and flooding across all of Indiana,” said Lashley.
Lashley is confident that expansion efforts in Whitley county and surrounding areas will be as successful as those in other portions of Indiana.
“We’ve been extremely fortunate so far. Hundreds of extremely interested volunteers statewide
have signed up already and the benefits have been tremendous. Volunteers have included senior citizens,
children with an interest in science, adult weather enthusiasts, and even schools and home schooled children,” said Lashley.
Attendance at the May 8th session is free, and open to any interested resident of the state of Indiana.
Additional information can be found at www.weather.gov/iwx or www.cocorahs.org. Interested volunteers are asked to RSVP by contacting
Sam Lashley at the National Weather Service office in Northern Indiana (Sam.Lashley@noaa.gov), or by calling 574-834-1104.
WCARC 2007 AMATEUR OF THE YEAR
Dan Dahms/N9WNH
WHITLEY COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO SILENT KEY MEMORIAL PAGE
CATCH OUR SIGNAL
On the Sunday Night Net found at 7:45pm on the
WC9AR Repeater 444.550 mhz.
WCARC W5YI TEST SESSIONS
WCARC W5YI Test sessions will be held the last
Saturday of January, April, July and October.
The next test
session will be held on Saturday July 26, 2008
from 9:00 till
11:00 AM in Community Room A of the Peabody Library
1160 East State Road 205 - Columbia City, Indiana.
WCARC W5YI Contact Person - Roger McEntarfer / N9QCL
WCARC AMATEUR RADIO TECHNICIAN CLASSES
Anyone interested in attending upcoming Amateur Radio Techincian classes please email WCARC President
Dan Dahms/N9WNH
GOING DIGITAL April program presented by Gary Stebbins KC9GGV
WCARC FOXHUNTS
THE FOXHUNT'S HAVE BEEN POSTPONED TO A LATER DATE.
WCARC APPLICATION
WCARC PHOTOGRAPHS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPECIAL EVENT 1999
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