Skip to main content

Rainfall Monitoring Volunteer Opportunity

Be part of our weather team:

A rain gauge on a wooden post with a rainbow in the background over a grassy field.

Volunteer to be a rainfall monitor

  • Do you have an interest in the weather? 
  • Are you looking for a way to do something for the environment from your location? 
  • Or how about a great classroom or family activity that provides an easy way for kids to get involved with science? 

Volunteer as a rainfall monitor for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) coordinated through the state climatology office in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

For the past five years, Minnesota has won the “CoCoRaHS Cup” for recruiting the most new volunteers of any state during the month of March. Thank you to the 573 Minnesotans who joined us last year and helped win the cup again. But we still need more rainfall monitors and YOU could be one of them!

Data provided by volunteers:

  • Verifies high rainfall totals after big events
  • Provides critical information during flooding events
  • Monitors drought conditions
  • Provides needed guidance on Minnesota’s changing climate
A person holds a foil-covered board with visible dents, labeled "Large Hail ≥ 1 inch."
A person in a red hoodie holds two white panels outdoors on a grassy area with bare trees in the background.

The network includes more than 20,000 volunteers nationwide who measure rainfall in their backyards using a standard 4-inch diameter rain gauge and submit their reports online. The program also collects snowfall and reports hail among other weather observations. The data is used by the National Weather Service, researchers, cities, and a wide range of industries.

To become a rainfall monitor, you must:

  • Have internet access to submit reports by computer or using the CoCoRaHS Observer weather app on your smartphone
  • Provide or purchase a standard 4-inch rain gauge (discounts are available through CoCoRaHS)
  • Complete online training on how to observe weather trends and how to submit precipitation and weather event reports online
  • Commit to submitting reports for at least one season

Volunteers are particularly needed in Greater Minnesota outside the Twin Cities metro area. Some areas have very few reporting stations so the more we have across the state, the better information we have to work with.

To sign up:

Join our weather team today!

Volunteering with the Minnesota DNR

For more information on becoming a rainfall monitor, go to the Minnesota page on the CoCoRaHS website.

To see this and other volunteer activities available around the state, please refer to the DNR volunteer opportunities webpage.

Join our mailing list