Did it Rain Where You Are?

There are times on our Prewitt mesa when we are under inches of snow while the area roads are bare and dry. We sometimes call our nearest neighbor to see if our current thunderstorm is hitting them, and often our weather is completely different.

Weather can be hyperlocal with rapid changes. When planning a garden or landscaping, the bigger picture can be equally confusing. In our very rural state, finding reliable climate information can be challenging. Many online sites are based on weather stations in cities and at airports, which can leave large areas without accurate information. Even within the cities, weather in one neighborhood can be different from the next.

In 1997, a deadly flash flood swept unexpectedly through a sunny neighborhood in Fort

Collins, Colorado from a storm a few miles upstream. That event inspired volunteers to create a community precipitation reporting network which now has tens of thousands of stations across the country. Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS. org) volunteers report daily precipitation at their site, and the organization compiles the resulting data. There are live maps that show precipitation at each station, and precipitation summaries for any time period broken down by station, county, or state. This information is used by the National Weather Service, National Drought Monitor, NOAA, USDA, and many others. It is also available to you.

To access this service, go to the cocorahs.org homepage where you will see today’s interactive precipitation map. The left side bar offers organization and volunteer information such as stateby-state newsletters, Master Gardener climate information, and more. The menu bar across the top accesses precipitation data. There are many types of summaries you can request. This is a great tool for gardeners, landscapers, and anyone interested in weather and climate anywhere in the country.

All are welcome to volunteer for CoCoRaHS, and right now is their annual friendly competition, “March Madness” to see which state can muster up the most new volunteers. New Mexico was the #1 percapita recruiting state back in 2019. I signed up to volunteer in June, 2021 and have recorded precipitation on my site almost every day since then. It takes almost no time, and I find it very helpful for my own learning about my own yard, and also exploring the variety in our region.

To volunteer, you buy and mount a simple analog rain gauge that they recommend ($35). You can download their very streamlined app, or use the website in your browser. On our many zero-precipitation days you can report in three clicks. If it rains you check the gauge, dump it, and record the amount. If it snows you weigh the gauge, dump it, and record the amount. Super easy, and they save all of your data for you so you can look up your daily, monthly or yearly totals any time.

If you think you might start collecting precipitation for CoCoRaHS some time in 2023, please go ahead and sign up during March Madness!

Kimi Ishikawa is a Cibola and McKinley County Master Gardener who lives in Prewitt.

If you have any gardening questions please call:

NMSU Cibola County Extension Service

Phone: 505-287-9266

NMSU McKinley County Extension Service

Phone: 505-863-3432