The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Help your CoCoRaHS by Donating Today.

Go to https://advancing.colostate.edu/csu.asp?COE/COCORAHS/GIVE

And Donate on Line
When filling out the Donation form be sure to Donate on Behalf of your county.

Also Double increase your contribution by looking up your employer to see if
they have a matching contribution program.
http://www.matchinggifts.com/colostate/

Washington State CoCoRaHS wishes to extend our thanks to all the sponsors that
have generously helped the CoCoRaHS Program

Washington State Sponsors

The National Weather Service,
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist
&
The Washington State Department of Ecology.

National Sponsors

     *  CIRA - CSU Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere1997,
1999-2001, 2004-present
     * The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station at Colorado State University
1998-present
     * Colorado State University—Department of Atmospheric Science 1998-present
     * Colorado State University CHILL Radar Laboratory 1998-present
     * Mountain States Weather Services 1998-present
     * City of Fort Collins Utilities—Water and Storm Water 1998-present
     * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2006-present
     * National Science Foundation 1999-2006
     * National Weather Service 1999-present
     * Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District 1999-present
     * City of Loveland Water and Power 1999-present
     * University of Northern Colorado, Earth Sciences Department 1999-present
     * Urban Drainage and Flood Control District 2001-present
     * Denver Cooperative Extension Office 2002-present
     * Denver Water 2002-2003, 2005-present
     * Southeast Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * East Central Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * City of Golden 2004-present
     * DayWeather, Inc. 2004 -present
     * Wyoming Farm Service Agency, 2005-present
     * U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management  2005-present
     * City of Aurora  2006-present
     * Texas Floodplain Managment Association  2007-present
     * Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority  2007-present
     * Lower Colorado River Authority 2007-present
     * Wallingford Software 2008-present
     * San Antonio River Authority 2008-present
     * PRISM 2008

To Learn More about our sponsors, Please Feel Free to visit the CoCoRaHS Sponsor
Page at http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=sponsors

Timely information!
Thanks for submitting your CoCoRaHS report. One of the regular users of CoCoRaHS
rain, hail and snow data is the National Weather Service (NWS). Regardless of
when you submit your reports, the information you transmit is useful and
appreciated. However, if you would like your data used in daily weather and
river forecasts, then please submit your daily precipitation report by 9 AM each
day. Submit hail and intense precipitation reports as soon as possible during or
after storms to aid forecasters in issuing severe weather statements.

To all our CoCoRaHS Volunteer Observers.

You are truly the heart and soul of the CoCoRaHS Organization. If it were not
for you the Volunteer Observer, your hard work and effort, braving the cold, wet
and sometimes windy, nasty weather that you have to endure to get your daily
reports in, in a timely manner, this program would not be a success.

  So, from All the Coordinators here at CoCoRaHS,
The forecasters at the National Weather Service,
the Office of Climatology and everyone else that uses your reports


THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Dear rain gauge team.

First a quick "welcome" to all of you who have signed up in the past few
weeks to help measure and report rainfall for the Community
Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). As we see each and
every day, the rainfall reports from CoCoRaHS volunteers are incredibly
important as we all work together to map and track precipitation
patterns each day from the storms that sweep across our country.  If you
haven't gotten set up with a gauge yet, we hope you can very soon. Let
us know if you have any questions or need any help getting started.

I especially want to recognize the efforts of the Arkansas Association
of Conservation Districts. They are signing up new volunteers every day
with hopes of adding 1000 new Arkansas volunteers this year. Great!!
Maybe Arkansas and outpace Texas!  Wouldn't that be something.

If you are involved in your local conservation district anywhere in the
U.S. please tell them about CoCoRaHS and encourage their participation.
Soil and Water Conservation Districts have a natural connection to the
use and importance of precipitation.


Bad Fire in Colorado -- close to home

Both the presence and the absence of rain has important and sometimes
disastrous impacts. That's why our collective measurements are so
important.  Here in northern Colorado, the problem this year has been
the lack of both winter snow and spring rain.  An ill-timed lightning
bolt last week in an abnormally dry forest in the mountains west of us
(Fort Collins, Colorado) was followed a few days later by heat, high
winds and painfully low humidity (less than 8% RH).  That's all it took
and a wild fire was off and running (similar story to what happened last
year in TX and NM and what could easily happen in more areas of the West
this summer).  That has pretty much dominated our attention for the past
several days and will likely keep our attention for several more weeks.

The CoCoRaHS staff are all fine (although the smoke has been choking at
times). But unfortunately, quite a few of our volunteers living in the
mountains west of town have been evacuated. Dozens of homes may have
burned and it is likely that some may be members of our CoCoRaHS family.
   Our hearts go out to all of you.  For those who have written asking
how to help, I would simply encourage you to be active in your own local
Red Cross organization as the time will come when your own community may
experience a disaster.  Red Cross does amazing things to help those in need.


Floods too!

Yes indeed -- some eyes were looking west toward the Rocky Mountain
wildfires while others were gazing south at some exceptional rains last
week along the Gulf Coast from west of Mobile to the Pensacola, FL area.
   Fortunately, we have many rain gauge volunteers in that area and some
of you did some heroics to get good measurements sent in.   Hats off to
all of you. I particularly want to point out the 24-hour report
submitted by FL-ES-2 on the morning of June 10th. They reported a
remarkable 21.70" of rain in 24 hours including 11.65" 2 hours and 28
minutes and nearly 21" in just 8 hours. Think about that for just a
moment. What would that do in your neighborhood?  To add insult, they
got another 8" in the days preceding and following bringing their June
total to over 30".  Several other locations also had excessive rains
including some volunteers west of Mobile Bay that picked up over 10" in
one day (reported June 9th) and 4-day totals exceeding 20".  No matter
how you slice it, that's a lot of rain.


Good time to learn about hurricanes

Please consider attending our special webinar later this evening
(Thursday, June 14th at 7 PM Eastern time, 6 PM Central, 5 PM Mountain,
4 PM Pacific and earlier if you are in HI or AK).  Chris Landsea, a
renowned hurricane expert at the National Hurricane Center will be our
guest to share insights and experiences about U.S. hurricanes.  We've
had some cancellations, so we have room for a few dozen more.  Check
first, to make sure you have the browser and bandwidth capabilities to
participate in a live webinar.  Then register to reserve a seat by going to

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/376658398

If you can't join live, we archive each presentation and post them  a
day or two later for public viewing at your convenience.

http://www.youtube.com/cocorahs/

You will find it in the "Featured Playlist" along with our other
excellent WeatherTalk Webinars.


Michigan

As luck would have it, while the fire has been burning within 3 miles of
our home in Colorado (and some of the footage on national news tonight
was shot near the command center just 1/4 mile from our office on the
CSU Foothills Campus), I'm actually on vacation up in the eastern end of
the Upper Peninsula of Michigan-- rendezvousing here with many relatives
and some long-time friends. The weather here has been great and the air
fresh and cool (frost in some locations this AM).  Michigan is having a
terrible year in terms of their large fruit industry as almost all
fruits were clobbered by the one-two punch of excessively warm March
temperatures followed by a series of hard freezes later in the spring.
But it's still beautiful here surrounded by the Great Lakes.

By shear coincidence I was able to attend the Michigan CoCoRaHS
volunteer coordinators team meeting at Michigan State University last
week. What a great and enthusiastic group!  Thanks to all of you who are
volunteering in so many ways to recruit, train and engage new volunteers
both here in MI and across the country in this curious project we call
"CoCoRaHS".


Comments, Drought Impact Reports, Significant Weather Reports, etc.

We hear time after time from volunteers who tell us they don't send in
comments, drought impact reports or significant weather reports "Because
they don't know for sure what to say".  Let me simply say -- any
comments about the weather conditions from the past day that help us
know what conditions you experienced are helpful. If it's really dry,
then fill out a drought impact report.  If you're having a bad or a
sudden storm, fill out a significant weather report. If you're
experiencing hail, send in a Hail report.  It will all help.  So don't
worry about it, just tell us about it -- short and simple is great.


Home next week

I'll give you an update later next week or soon thereafter when we get
back to Colorado.  We hear rumors that as many as 8 goslings hatched
this year -- most by a proud but confused chicken, but one by our lady
goose. Now they are trying to figure out how to blend this complicated
family.


Best wishes to all, and keep your rain gauge reports coming --rain or shine.

Nolan Doesken
Colorado State University

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Dear CoCoRaHS rain gaugers.

Summer is speeding by.  Some are sorry.  Some are delighted.  The sun is
setting noticeably earlier and rising later.  The blistering heat has
eased for many of us.  We've finally had a couple nights this week where
we didn't need a fan to be able to sleep comfortably.  And I just
checked the weather maps and it's only in the 60s in Oklahoma City this
afternoon.  Rain has found its way to some of the drought stricken areas
of our land -- in time to provide a little help to some very stressed
crops as well as stressed farmers and gardeners.

I haven't had much time to stay in touch this summer.  Heat and drought
have been a demanding combination for climatologists all across the
country.  Meanwhile, weather forecasters have had a relative calm summer
in terms of severe weather with few tornadoes and less hail and severe
storms than most years, but that has been compensated by the huge public
and media interest in drought.


10,000 plus!!

Since I last wrote in early July something close to 500 new CoCoRaHS
volunteers have signed up.  This is a record for midsummer, and thanks
to those of you who have helped recruit friends and family.

If you are one of the many who are new to CoCoRaHS -- we all welcome
you!!  Remember, if you have any questions on how to get started
reporting, just send a quick e-mail to info@...  It may take a
day or two, but we'll get back to you shortly.

Arkansas continues to lead the charge with several new recruits every
day.  Thanks again to the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts
for spearheading this effort.  Colorado is also doing well recruiting
new volunteers as we strive to get rain gauges to as many schools as
possible for our "Water 2012" educational celebration.

The heat and drought this year seem to have made people even more aware
of rainfall than usual.  The number of daily precipitation reports keeps
growing.  We regularly receive 7,000 reports on weekdays by mid morning,
another 1000 by late afternoon -- and then when the late reports trickle
in over the following weeks (as people go back and fill in their zeroes
for dry days) most days are now up to that 10,000 reports.  Yippee!  Our
record day is July 10 when 10,986 of us sent in a report.


Will there be hurricanes?

I'm no expert on hurricanes but I do know that late August to early
October is prime time.  Chances are we will be contending with some
storms before this season is over.  If you live in hurricane country,
please be prepared.  Here is a link to the NOAA/FEMA/Red Cross Tropical
cyclone preparedness guide if you haven't seen it already.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hurricane/resources/TropicalCyclones11.pdf

Tropical cyclones can dump incredible amounts of rain even very far
inland as we saw in New England last year from Hurricane Irene.  This
year we achieved an all-time high for CoCoRaHS one-day rainfall when an
early June storm soaked the Pensacola, FL area.  FL-ES-2 (West Pensacola
10.9 SW) successfully measured a remarkable 21.70" of rain in 24-hours.
The observer managed to go out and measure and empty their gauge several
times during the day to make sure it didn't spill over.  That storm was
not considered a tropical cyclone but it sure did have plenty of
tropical moisture.


Some thoughts and reminders

1)  Have you checked out the CoCoRaHS Blog recently?  Really great stuff
there.  I highly recommend it.

http://cocorahs.blogspot.com/

2)  We have some important webinars coming up soon that you are welcome
to participate in live, or view later.  Other webinars will follow
including a basic training guide for new volunteers.  I forget what day
that's scheduled.
On Thursday August 23, 2012 at 11 AM Mountain time (that's 1 PM eastern
       noon Central      10 AM Pacific)  Bill Kappel with Applied Weather
Associates (and a long-time CoCoRaHS volunteer) will present a
fascinating talk on Extreme Rainfall -- How we analyze it and how the
data are used.  Here is the link to register for this webinar.  I hope
you can join us.

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/120670622

3)  Did you know that we now have nearly 100 CoCoRaHS volunteers who
measure and report evapotranspiration?  It is fascinating watching the
water balance in action -- rain accumulating, evapotranspiration
departing.  Julian, our web developer, recently completed a water
balance graphing system to help us visualize the data we are collecting.

http://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/StationWaterBalanceChart.aspx

With the heat and drought this year over so much of the country, most of
our stations show a water balance deficit for the summer.  Please feel
free to "play" with the graphs.  Select stations from different parts of
the country to see how they differ.  Choose different begin and end
dates.  Just give it a try.

We still have a few states where we have a complimentary ETgage
available for a qualified station.  Please contact Zach at
info@... if you have an ideal location for an ET gauge and have
the time and interest to help out.

4)  Drought Impact reports
Thanks to many of you from the drought-stricken portions of the country
who have filled out "Drought Impact Reports".  We even appreciate
reports describing improvements.  Here is the link to view reports.  To
submit, reports click on "My Data" when you are logged in and you'll see
the report option.

http://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/ListDroughtImpactReports.aspx

5)  Heads up -- CoCoRaHS Survey coming soon
Three years ago in September we posted a survey for all volunteers --
and over 7000 of you responded.  That was a huge help to us and it even
helped us raise support for the project.  We are planning to do another
survey this fall -- probably November.  So just wanted to give you some
advanced warning.


An important anniversary -- a little late.

July 28, 2012 was the 15th anniversary of the "Fort Collins, Colorado
Flash Flood", a day that I shall never forget.  I can still recall in
much detail where I was that day and the day after -- what I did and
what I didn't do.  That was the storm (14.5" here in parts of Fort
Collins and a subsequent flood that claimed 5 lives) where my rain gauge
had a leak, and for a variety of reasons no local weather spotters
called in a report to the National Weather Service.  That was the storm
(helped along by fast-spreading internet access) that was the impetus
behind launching CoCoRaHS in 1998.

That was the storm that made it so clear to me that my rain gauge
measurement and report -- had I made one -- could have saved lives in my
own community.

Yes, CoCoRaHS is "just a bunch of folks reading their back-yard rain
gauges" and sharing and comparing our measurements.  But there is so
much more to what we are doing.  There will come a time when your
measurement might be the most important one of your lifetime.

We are passionate about CoCoRaHS because we know our precipitation
measurements matter -- and every now and then our measurements and
timely "Significant Weather Reports" can even save lives. So thanks SO
MUCH for being a part of this.


Summer on our farm

It's been a hot, dusty, and sometimes smokey summer here.  We did get
some great rains the weekend after the 4th of July that finished off our
local forest fires and gave the grass, trees and gardens a shot in the
arm.  But now we've reverted right back to where we were -- dry and
dusty.  The chickens are happy now that the temperatures aren't going
over 90 much.  And our apple trees are having a good year.  Irrigation
water is holding out longer than we expected so we are still growing
some grass for our horses.  They appreciate it and so do I since the
cost of hay is out of sight right now.

There haven't been many "farm stories" to share lately.  It's just not
the same without our old Great Pyrenees, Angel, who passed away back in
June.  It was only 4 years ago that she was still up to her rambunctious
chicken chasing.  But we did have one fright a couple weeks ago.  I
missed out since I was at work.  A friend came over about noon to visit
Kathy (my wife).  When she left, she apparently left the gate to the
street ajar. About an hour later Kathy got a call from a woman with a
Portuguese accent.  She asked if we were missing any dogs.  Sure enough,
the gate was open and our two Australian shepherds and another dog that
is staying with us were all gone.  Remarkably they were all secured
safely by a wonderful woman originally from Brazil who works in Fort
Collins at the Veterinarian Teaching Hospital here at Colorado State
University.  She had spotted the dogs and figured they weren't where
they should have been.  Indeed, they were about 2 miles away (not bad
for less than an hour of freedom).  They were down at the City Park Nine
golf course trying to catch and retrieve golf balls (yikes !!!)  Not
surprisingly, the dogs continue to check the gates each day -- just in
case.  I think they had a wonderful day.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and thanks very much for your past and/or
present and/or future participation in CoCoRaHS.

Nolan Doesken
Colorado State University
Department of Atmospheric Science
Colorado Climate Center

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

CoCoRaHS folks --  Sorry, I was in a hurry this afternoon and made a
mistake with my email formatting.  Sorry for all the gobbledygook I sent
you.  Hopefully this time I got it right so it's easier to read.
Again, I'm sorry for the bother.



Dear rain gauge readers, friends and family:


Big Rains Proclaimed

Much of the country continues to be dry.  At our place here in northern
Colorado I got to report my biggest rain of the month this morning -- a
whopping 0.02" bringing my August total to 0.08".  The dust is alive and
well here.  But the heavens have opened up this past week in the
Southeast, the Mid Atlantic states (including the DelMarVa peninsula)
and, of course, the Gulf Coast where Hurricane Isaac has visited.

Here are a few recent examples of huge one-day CoCoRaHS rain gauge reports:

8/30/2012
14.18" and 13.89" reported in Hancock County in southern Mississippi
11.17" and 10.48" reported in Harrison County in southern MS
More than 11" (gauge over topped) in Tangipahoa Parish in eastern Louisiana

8/28/2012
10.56" in Palm Beach County in SE Florida (two-day totals over 15")
10.50" in Indian River County in eastern Florida

8/27/2012
9.14" in Palm Beach County, Florida

8/26/2012
12.59" and 12.58" reported at nearby stations in Accomack County, VA on
the DelMarVa peninsula

8/25/2012
8.76" in Halifax County in NE North Carolina

There were also some rain reports in the 4-6" range in Nebraska, Kansas
and far NW Missouri late last week -- a huge change of pace compared to
most of the summer.


Field Photo Weekend -- What an opportunity!

Do you have a digital camera or a smart phone?   Please consider this
special opportunity.

We've been scrambling the past few weeks to try to launch a nationwide
effort to document how the country looks after this long, hot summer.
We've gathered many "drought impact reports", but a picture is really
worth a thousand words. Through a collaboration with two groups at the
University of Oklahoma we've pulled together a "Field Photo Weekend"
--  and it's this weekend, September 1-3.

As you are out and about enjoying the Labor Day weekend, keep your
camera handy and snap a photo or two.

Click on this link for background information and specific instructions.

http://www.southernclimate.org/fieldphotos/

Don't send your photos to us.  Follow the instructions in the link.
After the photos have been assembled and uploaded I'll get back to you
with instructions on how we can view the pictures so we can all see how
the country looked this Labor Day weekend. If this works out, hopefully
we'll be able to do this again.  Comparing photos from place to place
and year to year can be incredibly effective for showing how different
things look between wet years and dry years.


Blogs, YouTube -- and other fun icons

Just another reminder that CoCoRaHS is providing a great deal of timely
and relevant weather and climate information that you may not even know
about.  Just to the right and slightly below the word "Network" at the
top of the CoCoRaHS homepage http://www.cocorahs.org/  you will find a
series of four small icons  -- B for the "CoCoRaHS Blog", F for the
CoCoRaHS Facebook page, T for Twitter and finally "You/Tube"  for our
CoCoRaHS YouTube channel where we have all our animations and the many
webinars and training sessions such as the "CoCoRaHS for beginners" we
just hosted yesterday.

http://youtu.be/LZnAWXR-S2c

Please click any of these icons when you have a minute and take
advantage of these resources and share them with others.  There will be
updates on our Blog as we track the heavy rains from Isaac.


Labor Day weekend -- on the farm.

Plenty of farm chores are on my schedule for this weekend.  We'll be
planting our fall/winter spinach, chard and kale and we are trying to
finish a sturdy hoop house in time for winter.  With any amount of luck,
we might get a few final hours of irrigation water to squeeze out a
little more growth from our pasture.  The irrigation ditch is barely a
trickle, but that's better than nothing.  With so little rain most of
this year (only 6.52" since January 1 at my station) we're lucky to have
any grass at all.

Enjoy this weekend, snap a few landscape/field/tree/water body photos if
you can, and be ready for the inevitable weather changes ahead as we
begin the transition to autumn.  If you're in the path of the remnants
of Hurricane Isaac, we'll be eagerly awaiting your rainfall reports.

As always, thanks very much for being a past, present or future part of
CoCoRaHS.  We appreciate your help very much.

Nolan Doesken
Colorado State University

To all our CoCoRaHS Volunteer Observers.

You are truly the heart and soul of the CoCoRaHS Organization. If it were not
for you the Volunteer Observer, your hard work and effort, braving the cold, wet
and sometimes windy, nasty weather that you have to endure to get your daily
reports in, in a timely manner, this program would not be a success.

  So, from All the Coordinators here at CoCoRaHS,
The forecasters at the National Weather Service,
the Office of Climatology and everyone else that uses your reports


THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Help your CoCoRaHS by Donating Today.

Go to https://advancing.colostate.edu/csu.asp?COE/COCORAHS/GIVE

And Donate on Line
When filling out the Donation form be sure to Donate on Behalf of your county.

Also Double increase your contribution by looking up your employer to see if
they have a matching contribution program.
http://www.matchinggifts.com/colostate/

Washington State CoCoRaHS wishes to extend our thanks to all the sponsors that
have generously helped the CoCoRaHS Program

Washington State Sponsors

The National Weather Service,
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist
&
The Washington State Department of Ecology.

National Sponsors

     *  CIRA - CSU Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere1997,
1999-2001, 2004-present
     * The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station at Colorado State University
1998-present
     * Colorado State University—Department of Atmospheric Science 1998-present
     * Colorado State University CHILL Radar Laboratory 1998-present
     * Mountain States Weather Services 1998-present
     * City of Fort Collins Utilities—Water and Storm Water 1998-present
     * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2006-present
     * National Science Foundation 1999-2006
     * National Weather Service 1999-present
     * Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District 1999-present
     * City of Loveland Water and Power 1999-present
     * University of Northern Colorado, Earth Sciences Department 1999-present
     * Urban Drainage and Flood Control District 2001-present
     * Denver Cooperative Extension Office 2002-present
     * Denver Water 2002-2003, 2005-present
     * Southeast Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * East Central Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * City of Golden 2004-present
     * DayWeather, Inc. 2004 -present
     * Wyoming Farm Service Agency, 2005-present
     * U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management  2005-present
     * City of Aurora  2006-present
     * Texas Floodplain Managment Association  2007-present
     * Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority  2007-present
     * Lower Colorado River Authority 2007-present
     * Wallingford Software 2008-present
     * San Antonio River Authority 2008-present
     * PRISM 2008

To Learn More about our sponsors, Please Feel Free to visit the CoCoRaHS Sponsor
Page at http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=sponsors

Timely information!
Thanks for submitting your CoCoRaHS report. One of the regular users of CoCoRaHS
rain, hail and snow data is the National Weather Service (NWS). Regardless of
when you submit your reports, the information you transmit is useful and
appreciated. However, if you would like your data used in daily weather and
river forecasts, then please submit your daily precipitation report by 9 AM each
day. Submit hail and intense precipitation reports as soon as possible during or
after storms to aid forecasters in issuing severe weather statements.

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Greetings to all CoCoRaisins

It was fantastic seeing all the rainfall reports streaming in these past
few days as moisture has swept across many parts of the country.  If you
haven't already, I highly recommend taking a look at the CoCoRaHS maps
   http://www.cocorahs.org/Maps/    and click on your favorite areas.
These maps are our collective handiwork.  Everyone's measurements matter
and the sequence of national maps for the past 10 day show a fantastic
progression of rainfall across much of the country.

Today (September 19) there was significant rainfall reported from nearly
every CoCoRaHS rain gauge from southern Florida all the way up to the
northern tip of Maine.  Meanwhile the western 2/3 of the country was dry
   (Thanks for all the "zero" reports today).

Yesterday (September 18th) we had close to 5300 reports of measurable
precipitation with an impressive average rainfall (including nearly 4000
zeros) of 0.42" per observer nationwide.  150 of us received more than
4" of rainfall yesterday and another 200 volunteers reported between 3"
and 4" of rain in 24 hours.  It's been a long time since we've had such
widespread and soaking rains -- and this is helping to further reduce
the area and the intense impacts from this summer's drought.


"So you want to be a meteorologist?"  Special Webinar tomorrow -- still
time to sign up

I am so sorry for this last minute notification, but tomorrow (Thursday,
September 20 -- 1 PM Eastern, noon Central, 11 AM Mountain and 10 AM
Pacific) Dr. David Changnon (good friend and long time CoCoRaHS
participant) will be our guest to answer questions about how to become a
meteorologist.    Here is the link to register

     https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/394305070

If you are interested but can't attend -- or if you know of students,
teachers, or school counselors who may be interested -- we will have
this posted for viewing by Friday afternoon

http://www.youtube.com/cocorahs/   Click on "WxTalk Webinars" to see the
playlist and select your topic.


2012 coming to an end -- the "2012 Water Year" that is

For those of us who are CoCoRaHS regulars, we are familiar with this
annual tradition.   But this will be new for the hundreds and hundreds
of new rain gauge readers who have joined CoCoRaHS in recent months.

At the end of September each year we check over our data for the past 12
months, fill in any entries we missed and correct any errors that we
might have made.  Then we compile the totals for each month and compare
the annual (October 2011 - September 2012) total to previous years and
from place to place across the country.  Some of you have your own
spreadsheets set up to do this, but we will do these computations for
every single stations.

Here is the nationwide summary from last year.
http://www.cocorahs.org/WaterYearSummary/

Go ahead and get ready.  We'll run the first set of summaries in early
October.  Then we'll let everyone look over the results and check over
their data.  We'll make a final update of these reports in early
November or thereabouts.


Ready for snow?

No, I'm not either.  The first snow of the year could come any day now
in the Rocky Mountains and has already arrived in a few parts of Alaska
(yes, we do have volunteers there, too)   But it's still weeks or months
away for most of us.  We are working feverishly to have some more
training materials ready to help make snow measurements easier.


Close, but not quite

CoCoRaHS made it's first debut on the "big screen" at the IMAX theater
at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Our video animation of the
water cycle was selected as a finalist in the "Jackson Hole Science
Media Awards competition"  We did not win our category (short science
videos) but it was amazing to be in the same room with producers from
NOVA, National Geographic, and many other high caliber video producers
and to at least see one image from our video on the screen.

If you can spare 7 minutes, please take a look at our Water Cycle
animation.  If you know of students and teachers that might make use of
it, please pass this on to them.

http://youtu.be/ZzY5-NZSzVw


An award -- Tuscaloosa

It's not very often that the words "CoCoRaHS" and "Tuscaloosa" appear
together.  But in less than two weeks some of the CoCoRaHS team
including several Alabama CoCoRaHS volunteers will be gathered on the
campus of the University of Alabama.  CoCoRaHs has been recognized by
the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and the National
Outreach Scholarship Consortium as a Western Region Finalist for the
2012 C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award. The award
will be presented on Tuesday, October 2 at the University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa.

I don't know much about this award, but our university administrators
are really excited about this, so it must be a big deal.  This is only
possible because of the enthusiastic participation of so many of you.
So thanks very much for helping make this possible.


The farm and beyond.

I'm happy to report that there's not much to report from our little
farm.  Egg production is already starting to slow down as the days get
shorter.  The pasture responded a bit to last week's wonderful rain so
we'll have a little more grass for the horses before we switch over to
hay for the winter.  We're making progress on the "hoop house" (low cost
structure like a green house) -- and hoping we're reinforcing it enough
so it can withstand the strong winds we get in the coming winter months.

We're getting very excited now as Monday is the day we fly to see our
daughter and little grandson who are living in France.  Our flight takes
us to Iceland and then on to Paris.  Some of you are experienced
international travelers, but this is a new experience for us.  It's been
45 years since the last time I flew over the Atlantic -- but it will be
so great to see the family.  I'll report back next month after we
return.  If you have any questions or need any help while I'm away,
please send e-mail to        info@...


Best wishes to all, and thanks so much for helping with rain gauge
measurements.

Nolan Doesken
Colorado State University

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Help your CoCoRaHS by Donating Today.

Go to https://advancing.colostate.edu/csu.asp?COE/COCORAHS/GIVE

And Donate on Line
When filling out the Donation form be sure to Donate on Behalf of your county.

Also Double increase your contribution by looking up your employer to see if
they have a matching contribution program.
http://www.matchinggifts.com/colostate/

Timely information!
Thanks for submitting your CoCoRaHS report. One of the regular users of CoCoRaHS
rain, hail and snow data is the National Weather Service (NWS). Regardless of
when you submit your reports, the information you transmit is useful and
appreciated. However, if you would like your data used in daily weather and
river forecasts, then please submit your daily precipitation report by 9 AM each
day. Submit hail and intense precipitation reports as soon as possible during or
after storms to aid forecasters in issuing severe weather statements.

To all our CoCoRaHS Volunteer Observers.

You are truly the heart and soul of the CoCoRaHS Organization. If it were not
for you the Volunteer Observer, your hard work and effort, braving the cold, wet
and sometimes windy, nasty weather that you have to endure to get your daily
reports in, in a timely manner, this program would not be a success.

  So, from All the Coordinators here at CoCoRaHS,
The forecasters at the National Weather Service,
the Office of Climatology and everyone else that uses your reports


THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Washington State CoCoRaHS wishes to extend our thanks to all the sponsors that
have generously helped the CoCoRaHS Program

Washington State Sponsors

The National Weather Service,
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist
&
The Washington State Department of Ecology.

National Sponsors

     *  CIRA - CSU Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere1997,
1999-2001, 2004-present
     * The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station at Colorado State University
1998-present
     * Colorado State University—Department of Atmospheric Science 1998-present
     * Colorado State University CHILL Radar Laboratory 1998-present
     * Mountain States Weather Services 1998-present
     * City of Fort Collins Utilities—Water and Storm Water 1998-present
     * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2006-present
     * National Science Foundation 1999-2006
     * National Weather Service 1999-present
     * Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District 1999-present
     * City of Loveland Water and Power 1999-present
     * University of Northern Colorado, Earth Sciences Department 1999-present
     * Urban Drainage and Flood Control District 2001-present
     * Denver Cooperative Extension Office 2002-present
     * Denver Water 2002-2003, 2005-present
     * Southeast Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * East Central Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * City of Golden 2004-present
     * DayWeather, Inc. 2004 -present
     * Wyoming Farm Service Agency, 2005-present
     * U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management  2005-present
     * City of Aurora  2006-present
     * Texas Floodplain Managment Association  2007-present
     * Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority  2007-present
     * Lower Colorado River Authority 2007-present
     * Wallingford Software 2008-present
     * San Antonio River Authority 2008-present
     * PRISM 2008

To Learn More about our sponsors, Please Feel Free to visit the CoCoRaHS Sponsor
Page at http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=sponsors

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

The National Weather Service has opened up a TOLL FREE Hotline for reporting
Severe Weather. This Hotline is for the Public as well as Trained SKYWARN
Spotters.

YOU MUST READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REPORTING.
The number is posted at the bottom of this notice.

The National Weather Service encourages everyone to report severe weather.

HOW TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER USING THIS SYSTEM

in order to use this system you must know your,

1: Latitude Longitude by Degrees and Minutes

2: Or Zip Code

If either of these two items are not available then you must leave a very
detailed voice message at the end as to your location

What State are you in,
What County are you in,
What City are you in or closest to,
What is the nearest cross street, highway or interstate,
What mile post,
What is a well known Landmark,
What direction is the storm or event from your location
Is it still occurring,
what direction is it moving I.E. North, South, East, or West.

Be as detailed, in your report and location as possible IDENTIFY YOUR SELF WITH
YOUR NAME PHONE NUMBER, ADDRESS AND CoCoRaHS Station Number
When Prompted to leave a Voice Message.

When Prompted to leave a Voice Message, Remain Calm. Make sure you are in a safe
location. The NWS would much rather not
receive a report if it puts your safety in jeopardy.
YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!

Be as descriptive as possible, include thickness of tree limbs, rainfall
amounts and any damage or weather occurrence you feel is important to report.

SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING GUIDE LINES FOR WASHINGTON STATE

WESTERN WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debris being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

TORNADO, WATERSPOUT, FUNNEL CLOUD, WALL CLOUD -

Location, time, and direction of movement. Is it still visible? Watch for
rotation in the cloud(s). Any damage?

HAIL - Pea-sized or larger. Any damage?

LIGHTNING - Frequent (4 or more per minute) cloud-to-ground lightning inforested
areas.

DAMAGING WINDS - Trees/power lines knocked down, damage to homes, etc. If you
have an anemometer, report any sustained winds over 35 MPH or gusts over 50 mph.
You Can also use the Beaufort Scale for an estimate. Note: sustained winds are a
one
minute average.

HEAVY RAIN - One-half (0.50) inch in one hour. Two inches or more in 24 hours or
less. Has it ended?

FLOODING - OF ANY KIND! Are waters rising or falling? Any damage, mud or rock
slides, and/or roads blocked?

SNOW - One inch accumulation or more in three hours. 4 inches in 12 hours or
less.

FREEZING PRECIPITATION - Any accumulation of sleet or freezing rain / drizzle.

POOR VISIBILITY - Reduced visibility adversely impacting transportation. Less
than one-half miles for DENSE FOG and BLOWING SNOW.
BLOWING DUST and VOLCANIC ASH. Less than 300 feet

SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

Wind: 50 mph or stronger
Hail: 3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Flooding: Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding: Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain: Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow: Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater
And - Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities: Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain: Any freezing rain

EASTERN WASHINGTON REGION

FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO
1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado

HAIL
Pea-sized or larger

STRONG WINDS
30 mph+ or winds that produce any damage. Estimate using Beaufort chart.

HEAVY RAINFALL
0.50 inch in one hour - showery
1 inch in 12 hrs or 1.5 inches in 24 hrs – steady rain

FLOODING
Of any kind...including possible dam or levee failure. Watch for changing water
levels.

SNOW
2 inches or more – valleys
6 inches or more - mountains

MIXED PRECIPITATION
Any freezing rain or sleet

POOR VISIBILITY
One half mile or less in blowing dust or snow etc.

TRAVEL PROBLEMS DUE TO WEATHER
Conditions where poor or hazardous travel conditions observed or reported

ANY DAMAGE, INJURY OR LOSS OF LIFE DUE TO WEATHER
Be sure to include location, time and specific cause

SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON REGION

1: TORNADO: A violently rotating column of air IN CONTACT with the ground and
extending from the base of a thunderstorm.
Visual Key: is there dust & debries being picked up below the funnel

2: FUNNEL CLOUD: Violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with
the ground.
Visual Key: Look below the Funnel for Dust and debris being picked up if there
is then it is a Tornado
Location, time and direction of movement.

Hail: Pea size or larger.

Lightning: Continuous lightning (more than 6 flashes per minute).

Heavy Rain: Half an inch or more per hour. Report heavy rain even if you are
outside a flood prone area.

Heavy Snow: Accumulations of four inches in 12 hours or one inch per hour.

Flooding: Of ANY kind, including dam or levee failure. Are waters rising or
falling?

Damaging Wind: Trees or power lines knocked down, damage to buildings, etc.
Report any wind of at least 40 mph using the Beaufort Scale.

Fog, Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow: Report initial onslaught of event when poor
visibility impacts travel.

Freezing Rain: Report initial onslaught of event when it impacts travel.
Mudslides: Any event causing damage or road closure.

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER REPORTING HOT LINE 877-633-6772

Washington State CoCoRaHS wishes to extend our thanks to all the sponsors that
have generously helped the CoCoRaHS Program

Washington State Sponsors

The National Weather Service,
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist
&
The Washington State Department of Ecology.

National Sponsors

     *  CIRA - CSU Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere1997,
1999-2001, 2004-present
     * The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station at Colorado State University
1998-present
     * Colorado State University—Department of Atmospheric Science 1998-present
     * Colorado State University CHILL Radar Laboratory 1998-present
     * Mountain States Weather Services 1998-present
     * City of Fort Collins Utilities—Water and Storm Water 1998-present
     * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2006-present
     * National Science Foundation 1999-2006
     * National Weather Service 1999-present
     * Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District 1999-present
     * City of Loveland Water and Power 1999-present
     * University of Northern Colorado, Earth Sciences Department 1999-present
     * Urban Drainage and Flood Control District 2001-present
     * Denver Cooperative Extension Office 2002-present
     * Denver Water 2002-2003, 2005-present
     * Southeast Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * East Central Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development 2003-present
     * City of Golden 2004-present
     * DayWeather, Inc. 2004 -present
     * Wyoming Farm Service Agency, 2005-present
     * U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management  2005-present
     * City of Aurora  2006-present
     * Texas Floodplain Managment Association  2007-present
     * Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority  2007-present
     * Lower Colorado River Authority 2007-present
     * Wallingford Software 2008-present
     * San Antonio River Authority 2008-present
     * PRISM 2008

To Learn More about our sponsors, Please Feel Free to visit the CoCoRaHS Sponsor
Page at http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=sponsors

Help your CoCoRaHS by Donating Today.

Go to https://advancing.colostate.edu/csu.asp?COE/COCORAHS/GIVE

And Donate on Line
When filling out the Donation form be sure to Donate on Behalf of your county.

Also Double increase your contribution by looking up your employer to see if
they have a matching contribution program.
http://www.matchinggifts.com/colostate/