Volunteer group measures snow, rain over holidays

A group of volunteers across New Brunswick will be measuring how much snow falls this holiday season.

It's part of their daily work, determining the amount of precipitation in the region.

Al Thurber has been a volunteer with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRahs) since the group expanded to Canada from the United States in December 2011.

He has a small weather station set up on his front lawn in Keswick Ridge, that collects snow, rain and hail. Every morning, he takes measurements. 

In the winter he takes the snow inside to melt it over his wood stove, allowing him to record the water content.

"I come out and most of the volunteers come out in any type of weather," Thurber said.

"Just bundle up. I mean, we're New Brunswickers ... come out and do it. And do it quick."

The volunteer network has 115 volunteers across Atlantic Canada and about 35 volunteers in New Brunswick.

The CoCoRahs data is used by Environment and Climate Change Canada, which provides some funding for the program.

Rick Fleetwood, meteorologist with Environment Canada, helps manage the volunteer network in the region.

"The additional information really helps us understand the severity of the storms that come through as well as the extent of them," Fleetwood said.

Post tropical storm Arthur was one example where Environment Canada depended on the data collected by volunteers for post-storm analysis, according to Fleetwood.

"CoCoRahs really did help fill in a lot of information about that storm. How severe it was and the extensiveness of it," Fleetwood said.

'Growing climate science movement'

Fleetwood says the program is part of a growing citizen science movement, that helps gauge how climate change is affecting our weather.

"I think there's a growing awareness that weather really has a significant impact on Canadians, and infrastructure and people's lives. And they want to help contribute to a program that helps mitigate some of the impacts that we see from these storms," Fleetwood said.

Thurber said he's always been interested in the weather, and enjoys getting to play an active role in the recording process.

"Every Canadian likes to talk about weather. And it's fun to be out here and see what actual weather is instead of listening to what other organizations may report for weather," Thurber said.