SPICER — In farm country, backyard rain gauges are as ubiquitous as were six-shooters in the Old West, and maybe just as important.
Never know when you’re going to get accosted on the street with the question: “How much rain did you get?”
For the official answer in these parts, ask Paul Larson of Spicer.
Some three to four years ago he became a volunteer observer for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, referred to by the acronym CoCoRaHS. It’s a national network of volunteers who provide daily precipitation reports. The information is used by the National Weather Service and a wide range of other organizations and individuals for everything from studying the climate to help in making decisions for everything from agriculture to mosquito control.
Weather matters, and the information collected by CoCoRaHS volunteers is important. Right now, the data collected by the observers is helping the National Weather Service track the snow melt and the water content to assess the danger of spring flooding, according to Michelle Margraf, meteorologist and observing program leader with the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities.
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She said there are currently 2,001 CoCoRaHS observers in Minnesota. Many are concentrated in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. There is a need for more observers in Greater Minnesota, where there are large areas without observers, she said.
Getting good information depends on having as many observation locations as possible, she explained. She likens it to a photograph. The more pixels — or in this case, the more weather observers — the better.
Weather matters to Larson, which is a big part of why he decided to become a volunteer after he retired from a career in human services. Larson said his interest in the weather dates to the summer of 1973, when he stepped on the deck of a Johnson Sea Scow sailing boat and unfurled its sail to the winds rippling the waters of Green Lake.
He’s been hooked on sailing ever since. He’s never missed a summer of sailing since. When ice conditions allow, he also takes his ice sailing boat out on Green Lake.
His decades of sailing on Green Lake have taught him many lessons, including this one. The climate is changing. The winds stirring its waters come packed with more shifts and gusts than formerly was the case, he said.
He’s helping document what we are experiencing for the benefit of science. “In this world, so many different people don’t believe in science,” said Larson. “It seemed like this is maybe something I could do.”
He credits his interest in science to having been inspired by Ron Erpelding, his environmental science teacher when he was in high school in Montevideo.
There are other reasons to be part of the COCoRaHS network, according to Larson. It’s fun and interesting to collect the data, and easy to do. He only needs to step out of the house each morning and check the gauge. He takes a few minutes on the computer to relay the information to the CoCoRahs network.
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Larson and others provide their data year round. He melts the snow in his winter gauge to give an accurate report on the precipitation. No less important, he reports daily when there is no precipitation.
He had a long run of dry days last year. Having that data was important for the state to assess the drought conditions last year, Margraf pointed out.
While last year is remembered for the drought, it is also a reminder of how we are experiencing bigger swings in our weather. Larson said last year was when he also poured out 6.83 inches of precipitation after a May storm. That was the largest single reading he had since starting as a volunteer.
Larson figures he’s missed no more than six or seven days of reporting over the last few years. Being faithful to the effort means braving the winter cold, but he knows how important that is to science. In just his lifetime, he’s witnessed half of the snowiest winters ever recorded in Minnesota. This year ranks as the eighth snowiest in this area.
If this winter climbs up a notch, Larson will be among those helping document it.
He hopes not. A week ago he picked up a replacement part for his sailboat. He said that the minute he had it in his hand he caught spring fever. He can’t wait to launch his sailboat on Green Lake.
Persons interested in CoCoRaHs and being a volunteer can learn more on the website: CoCoRaHs website.
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