Climatologist Doesken honored by Water Education Foundation

FORT COLLINS – Nolan Doesken, state climatologist and founder of
CoCoRaHS – the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network,
based at Colorado State University – has been chosen to receive the 2011
President’s Award from the Colorado Foundation for Water Education.

Doesken will receive the award during a reception to be held from 6 to 9
p.m., April 8, at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Mesa
Laboratory in Boulder. He is being honored for his advancement of
greater understanding of Colorado’s climate and water resources.

CoCoRaHS taps volunteers of all ages to document the quantity,
intensity, duration and patterns of precipitation by taking simple
measurements in their own backyards. Volunteers only need a cylindrical
rain gauge, some training and an interest in weather to participate in
the program.

Doesken founded the volunteer precipitation monitoring program as a
small local project in Fort Collins soon after an extreme localized
storm in 1997. The storm was not well detected by traditional weather
observing networks and caused devastating flooding. For this effort, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration honored him as one of
10 “Environmental Heroes” in 2007.

NOAA’s Office of Education awarded CoCoRaHS an Environmental Literacy
grant in December 2006 to make its first formal push to expand
nationally. Since then, CoCoRaHS has grown to include nearly 15,000
volunteers nationwide.

For more information, go to the Colorado Foundation for Water Education
website at
http://www.cfwe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=64&Itemid=89.

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