Today is the 25th anniversary of the infamous Fort Collins flash flood, which was the impetus for starting CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network).
Fort Collins has a semi-arid climate, but rare tropical downpours lingered over the city during the beginning of the annual monsoon season, bringing nearly 15″ of rain in just over a day (including a period of 10″ in 5 hours). The average *annual* rainfall is ~16″.
You can help monitor rainfall in your local community by joining CoCoRaHS and adding to the pool of precipitation observations across the US, Canada, and the Bahamas! If you are already an observer, thank you! I am the current state coordinator for Georgia and appreciate all the folks who report daily observations (even zeroes!) to “fill in the blanks” between official stations.
