Volunteer Observation Programs: NWS Huntsville

There are two all-volunteer observation programs available to interested individuals or groups across the central Tennessee Valley. The first is the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network, a national precipitation network started and administered by the Colorado State Climatologist. CoCoRAHS covers both Alabama and Tennessee. The second is the local NWS Huntsville Backyard Observation Program.

A sample Backyard Observation Program site near Collinsville in De Kalb County. Your site doesn't have to be fancy, but it does need to be out away from trees and buildings!

If you have weather equipment in your back yard and are interested in furnishing your data to the National Weather Service, we invite you to join the NWS Huntsville Backyard Observation Program. Your weather data can be of tremendous use to the National Weather Service and to our customers and partners.

Existing Stations:

• CVLA1 - near Collinsville (De Kalb Co.)
• FAVT1 - Coldwater (Lincoln Co.)
• FYFA1 - Fyffe (De Kalb Co.)
• HRVA1 - Harvest Southeast (Madison Co.)
• HTLT1 - Huntland (Franklin Co. TN)
• IDRA1 - Ider (De Kalb Co.)
• MAFA1 - Madison (Madison Co.)
• NTCA1 - Florence (Lauderdale Co.)
• NTFT1 - near Estill Springs (Franklin Co. TN)
• UAHA1 - Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville (Madison Co.)
• UGVA1 - near Union Grove (Marshall Co.)
• XBTA1 - Monrovia (Madison Co.)

NEW Stations:
We are currently seeking observers via two methods:

Full Weather Stations

If you have your own weather station (reporting, at a minimum, temperature and precipitation), you can submit your high, low, and precipitation total daily to the National Weather Service via the internet. (Note that we receive hourly data from many ‘backyard weather stations’ through the Citizen Weather Observer Program and the APRSWXNET…but this effort is for 24-hour daily data for archival and comparison purposes.)

For your data to be included, your weather station must meet NWS siting requirements (not up against your home, not on your roof, etc.)

If you are interested, send an email to our webmaster account with the following information:

• Name (required)
• Street Address (required)
• Email address (required)
• Description of the location of your weather equipment (required)
• Digital photos of the location of your weather equipment (required)
• Latitude / longitude (if you know it)
• Elevation (if you know it)

Rainfall-only Reporting Stations

We are seeking observers to provide daily rainfall totals to the National Weather Service via the internet. We’ll even provide the rain gauge for those who live in the following areas! We are seeking observers in specific locations in our coverage area:

• Arab area (Marshall/Cullman Counties)
• near New Market/Plevna (far northeastern Madison County)
• Smith Lake area (Cullman County)
• southern/southeastern Colbert County

Observers in these locations would report their data daily at 7am via internet.

If you are interested, send an email to our webmaster account with the following information:

• Name (required)
• Street address (required)
• Email address (required)
• Description of the location where you will install the gauge (required)
• Digital photos of the area where the gage will be installed (if possible)
• Latitude / longitude (if you know it)
• Elevation (if you know it)

Backyard Observation Data

Our backyard observers and CoCoRAHS observers help us get a complete picture of temperatures and precipitation across the Tennessee Valley. We issue two reports on a daily basis that summarize the observations that we have received.

CoCoRAHS Precipitation Summary (LCO Product): A summary of precipitation reports received through the CoCoRAHS Network.

Daily Temperature and Precipitation Summary (OSO Product): A summary of temperature and precipitation reports received through the COOP and backyard observation networks.