|
<br />..
<br />
<br />,
<br />
<br />e
<br />
<br />e
<br />
<br />e
<br />
<br />'.
<br />
<br />8th Symposium on Education, AMS Annual Meeting, 10-15 January 1999, Dallas, Texas
<br />
<br />1.5
<br />
<br />COCO RAHS - THE COLORADO COLlABORATIVE RAIN AND !::!AIL ~TUDY
<br />
<br />Nolan J. Ooesken*
<br />Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
<br />
<br />1. INTRODUCTION AND GOALS
<br />
<br />CoCo RaHS, the Colorado Collaborative Rain and
<br />Hail Study, is a prototype science education project that
<br />encourages students, teachers and weather enthusiasts
<br />of all ages to participate with research professionals in
<br />a challenging study of summer storms. The Colorado
<br />Climate Center has been developing the idea for CoCo
<br />RaHS for several years. With northeastem Colorado
<br />among the most hail prone regions of the entire U.S.
<br />with close to ten hail days per year in some areas,
<br />Colorado appeared to be an ideal location to test the
<br />concept. However, it took an extreme rainfall event
<br />which caused the tremendous urban flash flood in Fort
<br />Collins, Colorado, in July 1997 to catch the attention of
<br />a variety of federal, state, and local agencies, business
<br />organizations and local citizens who then came forward
<br />to support this project to measure hail and rain.
<br />
<br />CoCo RaHS has several purposes and goals.
<br />These goals fall into categories of program develop-
<br />men~ scientific advancement, education and applica-
<br />tion.
<br />
<br />A Program development goals:
<br />
<br />. to engage students, teachers, families, adults and
<br />seniors in important and practical research,
<br />
<br />* to demonstrate that a team effort, combining the
<br />expertise of professionals with the enthusiasm of
<br />interested students and adult volunteers, can work
<br />effectively for gathering spatially detailed scientific
<br />data,
<br />
<br />. to develop a science-education program that could
<br />easily be adapted to any part of the country. .
<br />
<br />B. Scientific Advancement:
<br />
<br />. to document with as much detail as possible the
<br />size, intensity, duration and preferred tracks for
<br />summer rain and hail storms in northem Colorado,
<br />
<br />. to improve radar-derived precipitation estimates
<br />and help hasten the development of hail swath
<br />maps by providing high quality, spatially detailed
<br />ground measurements of rain and hail,
<br />
<br />C. Education:
<br />
<br />. to teach and demonstrate the scientific method,
<br />
<br />. to provide a motivation for scientific leaming and to
<br />provide leaming opportunities in subjects such as
<br />
<br />· Corresponding Author's Address: Colorado Climate
<br />Center, Atmos. ScL Dept, Colo, State Univ., Ft Collins,
<br />CO 80523; a-mail: nolan@ccc. atmos.colostate.edu
<br />
<br />weather measurements, weather forecasting, sa-
<br />vere storms, natural disasters, emergency man-
<br />agement, agricultural water use, water conserva-
<br />tion, and Internet communications,
<br />. to prepare high school student project leaders for
<br />careers in science.
<br />
<br />D. Applications:
<br />. to document hail location and severity for insur-
<br />ance claims applications and for evaluating per-
<br />formance of building materials,
<br />. to determine the effect of local variations in rain
<br />and hail on crop production,
<br />. to evaluate local rainfall variations and their effect
<br />on urban water use and storm water runoff,
<br />. to provide early waming, notification and docu-
<br />mentation of developing severe weather and
<br />wealher-relaled disasters.
<br />
<br />The goals appeared lofty and complex, but with the
<br />help of local support, collaboration, Intemet communi-
<br />cation, and incredible volunteer enthusiasm, the project
<br />was feasible,
<br />
<br />2. COCO RAHS 1998 - GETTING STARTED
<br />
<br />In late April 1998, after one year of fruitless CoCo
<br />RaHS proposal writing, a positive response came back
<br />from the Colorado Office of Emergency Management
<br />Project implementation began immediately. High
<br />school student leaders were recruited. The first organ-
<br />izational meeting was scheduled for May 12, and the
<br />search for participants and additional sponsors began.
<br />The project needed a catchy name, and .CoCo RaHS.
<br />sounded right Time was short, but helpers were gen-
<br />erous. Two student volunteers donated hours of lime
<br />at their busiest lime of year. Free radio advertisements
<br />were provided by a local business, Mountain States
<br />Weather Services. The local newspaper printed an
<br />article describing the planned project. An e-mail mes-
<br />sage went out to several thousand employees of Colo-
<br />rado State University. Fliers were distributed to science
<br />teachers throughout the local school district Staff from
<br />the City of Fort Collins Utilities and the CSU CHill
<br />Radar Laboratory helped with meeting arrangements.
<br />We had no idea what to expect, but when the meeting
<br />time came, a large crowd of people of all ages arrived
<br />to leam about the project and volunteer their services.
<br />CoCo RaHS was born,
<br />
<br />High quality rain gauges were provided to each
<br />student volunteer. Adults were asked to supply their
<br />own gauge if necessary so that students had first
<br />
|