Some of you may have seen a couple of posts here in the past about the Community Cooperative RAin, Hail and Snow network (CoCoRAHS), a group of volunteer weather observers who contribute daily observations of 24-hour precipitation to a national database used by meteorologists, hydrologists, climatologists and others, both operationally and in research settings, to provide increased detail to precipitation analyses across the country. The network has grown to more than 15,000 participants, and has a nice web site to share the observations and act as a hub for the participants and those who use the information.

Late last year, they also implemented a really nice monthly "Weather Talk" webinar series through the site, with presentations of about 60-90 minutes on a variety of weather, hydrology and climate topics. So far, those have included talks about snow and ice, weather satellites, the tropical cyclone forecasting process at the National Hurricane Center, identifying clouds, lightning and lightning safety, and more. The page I've linked to here is the home for the webinar series, and it provides a look ahead at scheduled talks along with a link to sign up for live streaming attendance, and even better, it includes all of the previous webinars in the series presented in a stream-on-demand format (basically, YouTube video versions) that you can check out any time.

The next live webinar is this Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 1 PM eastern, and covers the topic "So You Want to be a Meteorologist." It should be a good overview for anyone in school looking ahead to choosing a career, or those who've always been interested in meteorology and might be considering a career change. If you're interested, just follow the link above and then sign up, since they do have a limited number of connections (500) for the live events. If you're can't make it Thursday, or the event fills up, just check back later when they post the recorded version. Overall, a nice resource for any of you who have a special interest in our field!