The National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer Program (COOP Program) is older than the United States, dating to the pre-Revolutionary War colonies. Farmers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and scientists like Ben Franklin were always interested in the weather. Many kept detailed daily records and these records are part of the continuing study of our weather and our climate. This interest in weather followed settlers throughout Southern New England and continues today. The COOP Program is truly the Nation's weather and climate observing network of, by and for the people. Nearly 10,000 volunteers across our Nation take daily weather observations on farms, in urban and suburban areas, National Parks, Water Treatment Plants / Pumping Stations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Projects, seashores and mountaintops. The weather data collected is representative of where people live, work and play. Volunteer Cooperative Observers (COOPs) conscientiously contribute their time and are the weather eyes and ears for their community. The weather observed by our Nation's COOPs is vital to learning more about the floods, droughts, heat and cold waves affecting us all. Users of COOP data include climatologists, builders, architects, engineers, hydrologists, insurance companies, attorneys, politicians and/or public utilities to name but a few. Long term COOP data plays a critical role in the efforts to recognize and evaluate climate trends from local to global scales. |
nuts and boltsof climate data from COOPs include measurements of precipitation, snowfall and temperature. Other measurements made by COOPs include soil temperature, evaporation and hourly precipitation data (HPD). A few COOPs across Southern New England record soil temperature, evaporation and HPD but the majority record precipitation, snowfall and temperature. Descriptions of various COOP equipment are provided below:
funnelsthe rainfall into the inner tube. In order to provide rainfall measurements to the hundredths of an inch, the measuring tube has a cross sectional area that is one-tenth the cross-section of the funnel. Therefore, when 1 inch of rain falls into the funnel, it fills the measuring tube to a depth of 10 inches. Accordingly, the scale of the measuring stick used with the SRG is graduated to hundredths of an inch.
overflow can.Since rainfall depths in the overflow can are not increased 10 times, the measuring stick can not be used in the overflow can. Instead, the accumulated water in the overflow can must be poured into the inner tube then measured with the precipitation stick. This overflow amount is then added to the 2.00 inches which originally caused the water to flow into the overflow can. While the inner tube can hold up to 2.00 inches of water, the overflow can has the capacity to hold 20.00 inches of water.
Cooperative Weather Observer Training WxCoder IV-ROCS |
Precipitation Measurement Training (videos courtesy of CoCoRaHS) Temperature Measurements
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922
SXUS51 KBTV 032255
HYDBTV
Daily Hydrometeorological Data Summary
National Weather Service Burlington VT
555 PM EST Sun Nov 3 2024
Station Precip Temperature Present Snow
24 Hrs Max Min Cur Weather New Total SWE
...Vermont...
...Addison County...
Charlotte
...Caledonia County...
St Johnsbury 0.00 45 27 44 Clear 0.0 0
...Essex County VT...
Averill
...Lamoille County...
Mount Mansfield 0.00 29 19 25 0
$$
191
ASUS61 KBTV 040030
RTPBTV
Max/Min Temperature and Precipitation Table for
Vermont and Northern New York
National Weather Service Burlington VT
730 PM EST Sun Nov 3 2024
Values represent lows over the last 18 hours, highs over the last
18 hours and precipitation over the last 24 hours.
.BR BTV 1103 E DH20/TAIRZS/TAIRZI/PPDRZZ/SFDRZZ/SDIRZZ
:
: Max Min Snow Snow
:ID Location Temp Temp PCPN Fall Depth
1V4 : St Johnsbury Museum : 45 / 29 / 0.00 / M/ M
6B0 : Middlebury Arpt : 43 / 24 / 0.00 / M/ M
BTV : Burlington Intl Arpt : 45 / 29 / 0.00 / M/ M
CDA : Caledonia Co Arpt : 42 / 30 / M / M/ M
EFK : Newport Arpt : 41 / 28 / M / M/ M
FSO : Franklin Co Arpt : M / M / M / M/ M
MPV : Knapp State Arpt : 42 / 26 / 0.00 / M/ M
MSS : Massena Airport : 45 / 18 / 0.00 / M/ M
MVL : Morrisville Arpt : 44 / 25 / T / M/ M
OGS : Ogdensburg Arpt : 45 / 19 / 0.00 / M/ M
PBG : Plattsburgh Intl Arpt : 44 / 27 / 0.00 / M/ M
PTD : Potsdam Airport : 45 / 21 / 0.00 / M/ M
RUT : Rutland Airport : M / M / M / M/ M
SLK : Saranac Lake Arpt : 43 / 15 / 0.00 / M/ M
VSF : Springfield Arpt : 51 / 25 / 0.00 / M/ M
.END
These data are preliminary and have not undergone final quality
control by the National Climatic Data Center /NCDC/. Therefore,
these data are subject to revision. Final and certified climate
data can be accessed at www.ncdc.noaa.gov.
$$
Historical records for all Cooperative Weather Observing sites across our Nation are available at National Centers of Environmental Information (NCEI):
- National Centers of Environmental Information (NCEI)
- 151 Patton Avenue
- Federal Building, Room 120
- Asheville, NC 28801-5001
- (828) 271-4800
- Product Summary
- Browse Datasets
- State Summaries
Historical records can also be accessed at the NERCC:
- Northeast Regional Climate Center
- 1123 Bradfield Hall
- Cornell University
- Ithaca, NH 14853
- (607) 255-1751
- www.nrcc.cornell.edu
Climate information can also be accessed via an applied climate information system provided by the NERCC:
http://climodtest.nrcc.cornell.edu/
This climate information system allows one to query climate data in different ways whether for a single station or multi-stations. Here is a list of what you can query:
- Almanac Data for a Day
- Activity Planner for a Day
- Daily Data for a Month
- Daily Data Listing
- Daily Degree Days
- Calendar Day Summaries
- Monthly Summarized Data
- Seasonal Ranking
- Frost/Freeze Summaries
- Daily/Monthly Normals
- Temperature Graph
- Accumulation Graph
And yet another avenue to query climate data from Coop sites as well as Automated Service Observing Systems (ASOS) is through what is called NOAA Online Weather Data (NOWData). NOWData is an applied climate information system complements of the NERCC.
NOWData can be accessed at:
https://www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=btv
Here is a list of what you can query:
- Daily Data for a Month
- Daily Almanac
- Monthly Summarized Data
- Calendar Day Summaries
- Daily/Monthly Normals
- Climatology for a Day
- First/Last Dates
- Temperature Graph
- Accumulation Graph