Volunteer meteorologist not just for a rainy day

Dr. James Billingsley admits he's a weather freak.

For 45 years, the Tacoma physician has been measuring rainfall in his backyard.

So it's no surprise Billingsley was among the first to volunteer for a new statewide network that hopes to enlist hundreds of amateur meteorologists to fill gaps in official weather statistics.

"It's fun to be part of something that's just starting up," said Billingsley, who built his first weather station at age 9.

Washington is the 32nd state to join the program, called the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network — or CoCoRaHS for short. Founded in 1998 in Fort Collins, Colo., after flash floods killed five people, the network now has about 10,000 volunteers across the country. The goal is to double that number by 2010, said coordinator Henry Reges, a meteorologist at Colorado State University.

"The person at home can be a backyard scientist and provide important information," he said.

The precipitation measurements collected by volunteers have helped forecasters refine water-supply projections and decide when to issue flood warnings. Insurance companies have used the data to check weather-related claims. Information on the size and density of hailstones guided Boeing engineers in designing aircraft skins.

Emergency responders in Washington could have benefited from detailed data on rainfall patterns when floods scoured the Chehalis basin last December, said Josiah Mault, of the Office of Washington State Climatologist at the University of Washington.

"Our approach is: The more data the better," said Mault, one of the local program coordinators.

In addition to automated weather stations at airports, the National Weather Service gathers much of its raw weather data from a network of "cooperative observers," who are essentially volunteers. Washington has about 250, but the official stations are so widely spaced that big swaths of territory go unsampled, said National Weather Service spokesman Ted Buehner.

"With this new program, we're shooting to have at least one rain gauge for every square mile, particularly in populated areas," he said.

Participants must purchase a standardized rain gauge for about $25 and complete a training program either in person or online. After reading their gauges each morning, the volunteers enter the data online, where anyone can track measurements from across the state or nation.

The program focuses exclusively on precipitation, because it's easy to measure and is among the most useful weather data.

Rainfall can vary dramatically even across Seattle, said University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass, adding, "This will give us a better understanding of these local effects."

The numbers will also provide a reality check for new computer models that aim to improve local forecasts, Mass said.

And for all the closet weather forecasters out there, what could be cooler than that?

"Even the really good weather forecasters go crazy with the conditions here," Billingsley said. "I'm just a single data point, but it would be great to contribute."

Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com