Looking for volunteers to measure precipitation

There is a great volunteer network or precipitation observers that was started back in 1998 in Colorado called the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRaHS.  From their website:

"CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow).   By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications."

There is lots of great information at the website:

http://www.cocorahs.org/Canada.aspx

Here you can find out more about the program, watch the introduction video, see the map of current volunteers locations, and of course sign up to be part of the network.

On the website there are also lots of training videos that show exactly how the do the precipitation measurements:

http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=training_slideshows

To join the network you have to purchase the measurement equipment, the total cost including shipping is around $40 at the moment.

We the UW weather station want to encourage people to join the CoCoRaHS network.  In particular we are looking for people in the vicinity of the weather station to join.  To that end we are willing to help subsidize half of the the cost ($20) of the measurement equipment for the first 5 people who join the network within the area within the red line on this map (basically between Erb Street West on the south, Conservation Drive on the north, Erbsville Road on the west and Weber Street on the east):

**Click on the image below if you can't see the entire image **

In order to qualify for the subsidy, you first have to email us ( weather@civmail.uwaterloo.ca ) and tell us you are interested, then sign up on the CoCoRaHS website as normal and buy the equipment.  Once you become part of the network (ie. appear on the map) we will give you the $20 subsidy.  Remember this offer is only for the first 5 people who email us and become part of the network.

Please leave any questions in the comments below.