Observation Notes - extremely helpful as a supplement to your observation. Please try to add a comment or two with your next observation.

One of the great things about the CoCoRaHS is that you can include comments about your daily observation when you enter your daily precipitation report each morning under observation notes. Your comments are extremely useful in supplementing your data and greatly help others get a more detailed picture of what has taken place during the past 24 hours (especially when you have an unusual rainfall event, in measuring snow, or other events). "Yes, that 8.14" is no error"... helps us to verify the amount. Some have written to say they were a bit intimidated about writing a comment... we say, give it a try; we don’t give out grades for one comment being more concise than another. This is your chance to tell your daily weather story, however short or long your comment may be. Some have said that this has become a weather journal for them over time.

Here are some examples over the past month:

From Alabama, August 2026: ”Storm started around 8:30 PM last night with heavy rain and lots of thunder and lightning! It had been bone dry before that."

From Ohio, August 2026: ”Awoke to heavy rainfall about 3:45 a.m., which continued until just before 6 a.m. Significant flooding/ponding in low-lying backyard areas, largest 40' by 20'; flooding overtopped one swale."

From Hawaii, August 2026: "Hurricane Lala. First reading at 12 AM was 11.07; dumped; second reading at 12 PM was 9.07. Added total: 29.77 WOW "

From New Jersey, August 2026: "Torrential downpours~6- 9:30 p.m. At the time of the storm, back bay road flooded, and several side roads flooded. Main Blvrd pockets of flooding. This morning, in most flooded areas, the water has receded from last night "

From Texas. August 2026: "Boring August heat and lack of rain continue. "

From Iowa, August 2026: "I expected more because of the wind blowing the rain so hard against the windows for a few hours last night. It is possible that some rainfall was missed due to the strong winds."

From North Carolina, August 2026: "Torrential rainstorms from 4 pm until midnight"

From Oklahoma, August 2026: "This is most likely the highest amount of rain we have recorded in a 24-hour period over all our observations. 4.21 inches"

You can view a summary of each day's comments by clicking on "View Data" from the homepage's top menu bar and then choosing "Daily Comments Reports" for a given location and date. Please consider giving this a try with your next observation. Thank you.