Training Date Set For Rain/Snow Monitors
If you have an interest in weather and would like to know how much rain or snow falls in your backyard, this program is for you. Teachers and students, including homeschoolers, can receive suggested exercises to make the students think critically about the data they are collecting.
If you would like to join this network, there will be a training session beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16, at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, 151 East White Bear Drive, Summit Hill, which is located at the west end of Mauch Chunk Lake Park, just outside Jim Thorpe.
Penn State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has set up a network of volunteers across Pennsylvania. The program is called FROST and the Pennsylvania State Climatologist administers it.
Paul Knight, who has been the Pennsylvania State Climatologist since 1994, will conduct the training. He is also a senior lecturer of synoptic meteorology at Penn State University.
Paul has been a senior forecaster for The New York Times since 1986. He, along with four other colleagues, produces the weather page for the Times each day. Paul has also been the producer, co-host and on-camera meteorologist for WPSU-TV’s Weather World, a fifteen minute, weeknight weather magazine show seen on Pennsylvania PBS stations since 1983 and since 2004 on PCN.
FROST is part of a larger, national network called CoCoRaHS, which is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network and is based at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.
The data collected is submitted to CoCoRaHS over the Internet, and it is displayed on their website. The National Weather Service is notified immediately of any extraordinary weather events.
Some examples of those who use the data are the National Weather Service, other meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, USDA, engineers, mosquito control, ranchers and farmers, outdoor & recreation interests, teachers, students, and neighbors in the community.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a major sponsor of CoCoRaHS.
Everyone is welcome and you do not need to live in Carbon County to join. Youngsters can join too, but need to come with a parent or guardian.
There is no fee for this training session, but registration is necessary due to space limitations. To register, contact the Carbon County Environmental Education Center at (570) 645-8597 or e-mail Frank Waksmunski, Carbon County Coordinator for FROST, at frank@carbonwaters.org.
Links of interest: FROST, CoCoRaHS, Carbonwaters.org