Volunteer with Kettle Creek Conservation Authority
KCCA is looking for 20 volunteers living or working in the watershed to collect and share precipitation data with KCCA using the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS).
Empowering Citizens to Become Active in Flood Resiliency
Do you have an interest in weather? Would you like to help your local community? KCCA is currently recruiting volunteer observers to join the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS).
CoCoRaHS Canada is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers working together to measure and map precipitation, hail and snow across Canada. There are over 100 stations in Ontario. Volunteer citizen scientists who sign up for this project will receive a specialized rain gauge, instruction on where and how to install the gauge and instruction on how to use the data entry software (either through the website or an app for your smartphone). The rain gauges are “manual” meaning they don’t require power to collect data. Once set up, monitoring your CoCoRaHS station will only take 5 minutes of your time every day to empty and log your results.
Volunteers of all ages welcome!
Flooding is a prevalent natural hazard and the leading cause of public emergency in Ontario. In the KCCA watershed, flood season typically runs from November to April, however, the effects of climate change suggest that floods can happen at any time, with little warning.
The best way to prepare and build flood resiliency is to collect as much useful data as possible and to better communicate and educate the public on the risks. While KCCA has a system in place to monitor and predict when flooding will occur, there are still areas of the watershed where more data could be collected in order to improve KCCA’s forecasting models.
By submitting precipitation reports, our volunteer observers are helping us access new data that we can analyze and apply to daily situations in the watershed, from how much rain fall an area receives to predicting upcoming weather events.
Follow the steps below to become a volunteer observer:
- Complete the application, a KCCA staff member will get back to you shortly. Spots are limited, so don’t delay!
- Pickup your rain gauge from KCCA.
- Follow the guidelines and report your data daily online or with the CoCoRaHS app.
- Feel free to contact KCCA with any questions that you may have.
For more information, e-mail Jennifer Dow.
Participate in real hands-on science and help make a difference.
With the increase of rain events due to climate change, expanding the rain gauge network will improve KCCA’s ability to forecast flood events and capture the spatial nature of rain events that affect the watershed. Over time, flood forecasting staff have noticed “data gaps or holes” in the precipitation network across the watershed where there are no monitoring stations or gauges. These areas tend to be at the fringes of the watershed, i.e. along the Lake Erie shoreline and the northern reaches of the watershed.
Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
KCCA will be able to incorporate citizen scientist precipitation data into future hydrologic modelling to obtain a better understanding of how water moves and flows through the watershed and to track changes over time through improved floodplain mapping.
Precipitation data is not only essential for flood forecasting and public safety, it is also essential for agriculture, forestry and stewardship projects.
KCCA’s Citizen Science Program is generously supported by:
