BOARD01489

• Board Meeting Date: 1/27/1999
• Description: CF Section - Non-Reimbursable Projects and Investigations - Colorado Climate Center - Colorado Collaborative Rain and Hail Study
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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volunteers. The best student volunteers, especially . Volunteer participation was high in specialleaming e
at the younger ages, had consistent support and activities early in the summer but dropped off con-
encouragement from one or more parents or other siderably as the summer progressed.
adutt family members. There were several cases
where grandparents teamed up with their grand- D. App8cations
children. The data proved useful in several applications:
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B. Scientific Results research and radar studies,
. The data collected during the 1998 demonstration assessment of urban storm water runoff,
project was of good quality and suitable for use in evaluation of irrigation water use and water re-
research. quirements for agriculture and also lawn and
. Data collected during the summer of 1998 re- garden applications,
vealed: documentation of hail storm severity for insur-
at any given point, measurable quantities of ance purposes,
rain fell on approximately 25% of the days severe weather spotting and notification,
during the summer, NWS weather forecast and waming verification.
over the 3,000 square mile project area, rain
fell on 65% of the days during the summer, 6. THE FUTURE
Rainfall in excess of 1.00' per day occurred The CoCo RaHS 1998 demonstration project was
on six days during the summer. Only about
20% of the observing sites experienced daily a big success. Because of the importance of rainfall
rainfall in excess of one inch. The greatest and hail damage throughout the country, and because
observed daily rainfall occurred on Septem- of the widespread interest and enthusiasm that stu-
ber 1 in a rural area north of Fort Collins and dents and adutts have for weather projects, this type of
totaled 4,58' in three hours. project is feasible almost anywhere. Even the acronym
. Low cost hail pads proved extremely effective in is adaptable to other parts of the country. A volunteer
documenting the number, size and hardness of hail network of this type cannot and should not replace
stones. more formal networks such as the National Weather
Service's Cooperative Program. However, special .
. Hail occurred on 15 days during the 1998 summer educational volunteer networks like CoCo RaHS can
season, but several events occurred before COCO enhance local networks, meet special data needs, and
RaHS volunteers were trained and equipped. provide educational experiences and research oppor-
. At individual points, the frequency of hail varied tunities on many levels - from school science projects
from no observed events during the summer to a on up.
maximum of live,
. The maximum documented hail stone diameter Current plans are to expand the CoCo RaHS
during the project was 3/4 inch. volunteer observing system in 1999 to include other
. The most common hail stone diameters observed portions of the Colorado Front Range urban corridor
during the summer of 1998 were 1/8 to 1/4 inch. and nearby mounlain communities. Expansion into
predominanUy agricuttural regions of northeastem
. The average duration of hail fall at individual Colorado is also an immediate goal. We will focus on
observing points was four minutes. the development of the educational components of
. No property damage (roof, window, automobile, CoCo RaHS and include more science teachers in
etc.) was sustained over the project area, but at project planning and leadership. Many special educa-
least three storms did produce damage to vegeta- tional programs such as natural hazards response,
tion. water management and conservation, and agricutture
. Collaboration with the CSU CHILL radar worked fit nicely in CoCo RaHS.
reasonably well, and progress in hail swath map-
ping was made. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The CoCo RaHS 1998 demonstration project and
C. Education: this paper were made possible by support from the
. With the help of local science teachers, many Colorado Office of Emergency Managemen~ State
students grades 4 through high school volunteered Hazard Mitigation Program and Colorado Hazards
to help with this project. Mitigation Council, the City of Fort Collins utilities, the
USDA Agricuttural Research Service, the Colorado
. CoCo RaHS was successful in creating an almos- Slate University CHILL Radar Laboratory, Mountain
phere for leaming that was both fun and motive- Slates Weather Services, the Poudre School District's
tional. Professional and Community Experience Program, the e
. The intergenerationalleaming activities proved Colorado State University Agricuttural Experiment
especially effective. Station, and all the dedicated volunteers.