Whatever the Weather?

Welcome to the Citizen Science Weather web pages at Newcastle Univeristy. This website has been developed by a team of researchers  working to support people (like you!) to become citizen scientists. In particular, we would like to encourage people to collect rainfall measurements. Rainfall data is important in preparing for floods and droughts and generally managing water resources.

Even though it rains a lot in the UK and even though we have been measuring rainfall for hundreds of years, we are still not able to say exactly how much it is raining at any given location in the UK.This is because rainfall can vary a lot over very short distances and we don’t have enough rain gauges to capture all of the variation. This is where you come in! If citizen scientists collect and share rainfall data, we could potentially have a much better understanding of rainfall in the UK.

On this website we will show you how to set up a rain gauge and share the data that you collect with the UK Met Office and other citizen scientists.

About Our Project

In areas where the formal rain gauge network is sparse or where high intensity convective storms arise, real time weather data is vital for a well-managed flood event. This website is part of a project that will engage with citizen scientists to identify and establish best practice in recording rainfall and associated weather parameters. Data will be uploaded in real time to the Met Office Citizen Science free to access Weather Observations Website (WOW), and will be available to stakeholders e.g. flood forecasters, for improved management of flood events.

A cooperative approach will be championed whereby citizen scientists willing to buy a weather station and commit to data collection will be offered a package of support developed for this project comprising:

• An introductory workshop with interactive activities and presentations on weather and climate change. This will include games demonstrating the potential of Natural Flood Management (NFM), the impact of monitoring and a virtual reality experience of flash flooding;
• Demonstrations and videos on how to set up a weather station and ensure data is recorded accurately and in a timely fashion on WOW; and,
• On-going technical support over the duration of the project as required in relation to data collection and interpretation.

Details of events we are running and support documentation can be found via the navigation bar at the top of this page. 

**Please note that this website is under development, with content being added regularly. If you don't see what you are looking for please contact the research team via cspaws@newcastle.ac.uk**