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Rapid Reaction: Saturday’s Storms Bring Locally Heavy Rainfall

CoCoRaHS

A satellite image of Hurricane Florence approaching North Carolina on September 12, 2018

Sep 11, 2023

Florence After Five: An Anxious Arrival

This is the first in a four-part blog post series remembering Hurricane Florence for its five-year anniversary. Within arm’s reach on the desk of Steve Pfaff, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, is a printed map graphic. At first, it’s unassuming – weather maps are hardly out of place…
Rain Gauge

Mar 9, 2021

Want to Compete in March Madness? You Can, CoCoRaHS Style!

As any college basketball fan knows, the state of North Carolina tends to perform well in the month of March. But no matter which color jersey you root for, you can help our state succeed in another March Madness competition, all while helping meteorologists more accurately track precipitation across the country. The Community Collaborative Rain,…

Mar 29, 2019

CoCoRaHS Reports Offered Unique Insights into Florence

During significant weather events, on-the-ground observations often provide us with the best indications of local conditions and impacts, but we don’t just get this information from automated weather stations. In fact, during Hurricane Florence last fall, some of the most meaningful — and most impressive — observations came from the backyards of volunteer observers! Those…

Mar 2, 2018

Winter Wanes Early in a Near-Record Warm February

This month’s climate summary highlights the warm weather and diminishing drought during February, plus the CoCoRaHS March Madness contest that’s now underway. Spring-Like Weather Arrives A wave of warmth swept in during February, and the statewide average temperature of 50.51°F — nearly 8 degrees above the 1981 to 2010 average — ranked as our 2nd-warmest…

Oct 2, 2017

After Irma, Dry Weather Dominates in September

Our latest climate summary takes a focused look at the recent dry conditions across much of the state. Despite increasing activity in the tropics last month and several storms passing close to North Carolina, most of the state escaped September without much rainfall to show from tropical systems or otherwise. The main exception was parts…

Mar 23, 2017

CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring Reports Add a Narrative to the Numbers

After the emergence of warm, dry weather last month, you might have been more likely to have pollen or dust coating the bottom of your rain gauge than actual precipitation. But even when the gauge is dry and you have nothing but a zero value to report in your daily CoCoRaHS observation, you can still…

Mar 8, 2017

Extreme Events from the Past Year, as Told by CoCoRaHS Reports

North Carolina had some impactful weather events over the past 12 months, from intense summer storms to powerful tropical systems along the coast to a snowstorm earlier this year. In each of these events, CoCoRaHS observers across the state helped us gain a better perspective about how much precipitation fell than we otherwise might have…

Oct 13, 2016

A New Phase of the CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring Project

This past weekend saw the passage of Hurricane Matthew, and with it, heavy rains and strong winds in central and eastern NC. If you were in these affected areas, you may have observed swollen creeks, overflowing ditches, and wind-blown debris. During the inevitable cleanup following the storm, you may have taken note of how squishy…

Jul 18, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Saturday’s Storms Bring Locally Heavy Rainfall

When residents and even forecasters in central North Carolina woke up on Saturday morning, they had little idea that a rare rainfall event awaited later that day. After all, the morning cloud cover hardly threatened a stormy afternoon. But clearing clouds, warming temperatures, and several storm-specific ingredients resulted in extreme precipitation totals over a small…