The first thing Loren Gmachl did when she moved to Rancho Santa Margarita in 2017 was hang up her rain gauge in the backyard.
The 47-year-old freelance editor has been recording daily rainfall since 2013 and is one of nearly 20,000 volunteers across the Northern Hemisphere – and 2,213 in Southern California – who provide real-time weather data through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, or CoCoRahs.
On Feb. 14, 2019, Gmachl, said she recorded 3.24 inches of rain in one day, the highest she ever recorded in Orange County. She said it made her think of the people in Houston who lived through Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and wondered how they dealt with 50 inches of rainfall.
Still, there are many days when she submits a lot of zeroes.
“Given how we’re in a drought in this part of the country, it’s important for me to report that we’re not getting any rain,” said Gmachl.
The network is currently seeking additional volunteers, and weather enthusiasts interested in joining can sign up on the website.
By providing local data on rain, hail, and snow, the volunteers help bridge the gap between official weather stations, which may be too far apart to give accurate data on rainfall. The data are publicly available online and used by individuals and organizations, ranging from the National Weather Service to emergency managers and mosquito control.
Rainfall data collected by the volunteers also help improve forecasting and become part of historical data stored in a national archive, said NWS meteorologist Adam Roser.
Volunteers receive training and purchase a manual rain gauge, which costs around $33, for measuring rainfall daily and reporting their findings directly to the website or through a mobile app.
Reporting time is 7 a.m. The network has found it’s most convenient for volunteers to check their gauges in the morning, before heading to work. And for comparisons, volunteers report at the same time.
Steve Kerrigan, 61,…
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