Sunflower Co, MS Observers Wanted

If you live in Sunflower County, Mississippi (or any Mississippi county), and routinely keep up with rainfall at your house, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) wants your input!

CoCoRaHS is a network of community-based volunteers working together to measure, record, report and map precipitation.  The data generated by the CoCoRaHS network is used by the National Weather Service forecast offices, NWS River Forecast Centers, NASA, media, and researchers.  By having a high-density network of observers, forecasters and planners can build more accurate models and forecasts of floods, droughts, and other weather-related matters.  Anyone can participate - farmers, schools, businesses...anyone with an interest in weather, an internet connection, and a CoCoRaHS rain gauge. 

Signing up is easy, just visit www.cocorahs.org for details on how to sign up, where to order the proper rain gauge, and useful program educational material.

Currently in Sunflower County, Mississippi, there are only two registered CoCoRaHS stations, both in the City of Indianola.  For the network to be most effective, an even distribution of CoCoRaHS stations around the county would provide a wealth of precipitation data, and a more accurate picture of area rainfall.

Here's a listing of areas that CoCoRaHS stations would be beneficial.  If you know anyone that lives near these areas (within a mile or two), please share this article with them. 

Each town: Inverness, Moorhead, Sunflower, Ruleville, Drew would benefit from at least one observer.  For Indianola, due to the size of the city, three to four more observers would provide adequate coverage.  If you live in Indianola, we're looking for a volunteers in these areas:
1.  Bayou Drive or Hummingbird/Cardinal Circle areas
2.  Morningside/Sunset, Paris Circle, West Gresham or Woodbine area
3.  Garrard Ave/Jefferson St areas (great project for Merritt Middle, Carver Elem, or Gentry High School)

For county residents, potential locations include:
Kinlock/Waco Road intersection area
Caile Community area
Kinlock/Dement Road intersection area
Rupert Baird Road area
Moorhead-Belzoni/Hobbs Road area
Marie Community area
Idlewood area (Hwy 49N at Sunflower River)
Inwood area (Hwy 3 North)
Hwy 448/Muzzi Road area
Steiner/Steed Mixon Road intersection area
Fisackerly/Bolling Road intersection area
Hwy 442/Linn Methodist Church area
Hwy 442 between Doddsville and Leflore County Line
Drew-Rulleville/Ralph Ray Road intersection area
Stancel Lane area
Dwiggins community NW of Drew
Whitney community
Rome community

Of course, anyone, anywhere in the county is welcome to participate!  The areas listed give a relatively even distribution of the stations, about 6-8 miles apart.

As we mentioned earlier, if you know anyone in or reasonably near the areas listed, please share this article with them.  More information means better forecasting and modeling.  Thanks for considering!!!