How Long Do Citizen Science Observers Last in Parts of the Northeast United States?

Over the last two decades, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, known as CoCoRaHS, has expanded nationwide adding hundreds of new volunteer observers in many states to collect and track precipitation measurements. This network has complemented the long established National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) in recruiting citizen scientists to record daily weather observations and conditions in local communities. Climate information becomes more valuable when data is collected over a longer period and at a specific location that does not move or has minimal movement.

This presentation will look at trends in volunteer observers in both programs and analyze recruitment numbers by county as well as look at the length of time a station has existed. The analysis will encompass trends in rural and urban areas and also examine locales boasting a higher concentration of meteorologists and other scientists where recruitment may be perceived as more straightforward. Potential impacts from differing marketing approaches for recruiting observers in both programs employed by local program leaders will also be explored. This presentation will focus on the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, encompassing a region that hosts several of the country's largest metropolitan areas, as well as various rural areas as well as meteorological centers. The goal of this effort is to assess how much long term value exists in these citizen observer sites and how these data can best be utilized for climate services as well as climate monitoring.