Saturday a group called the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and SnowNetwork, or COCORAS for short met in part to learn how to spot andreport severe weather.

These spotters can send their reports tothe National Weather Service, which can then issue watches or warningsthat go out to thousands of mid- Missourians.

The group would normally help with snow and rainfall data; recording rainfall amounts, giving meteorologists and other professionals more data for climatology reports.

"Generally, there's one maybe two cooperative observers in a particular county," said Ben Miller of the National Weather Service. "Whereas in Boone County I think they said there was about 10 or 12 different observers in the COCORAS network."

"The Weather Service Office can use this sort of information to dispatch flood warnings.So as you can see there's a severe weather safety component as well," said Pat Guinan, MU climatologist.

You too can help report severe weather when it hits. You can contact the National Weather Service who will take down your information. Be sure to have specific information about whatever you're reporting.
You can also sign up to be a volunteer weather observer at:  http://www.cocorahs.org
Or, contact Tony Lupo at  LupoA@missouri.edu