The Penn State Master Well Owner's program will hold a training session for anyone interested in joining the program on August 2 in Summit Hill near Jim Thorpe.

The program will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, 151 East White Bear Dr., Summit Hill, at the west end of Mauch Chunk Lake Park. (map)

It can be fun to monitor the precipitation that falls in your own backyard and then compare it to other places in Carbon County, and even the entire state.

During the period of June 20 through June 29, when the destructive flooding occurred, Frank Waksmunski, one of the founders of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians and a Penn State Master Well Owner, measured 11.26 inches of rain. There were higher amounts recorded at other sites.

Penn State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has set up a network of volunteers across Pennsylvania who monitor rain and snow amounts. The program is called FROST. It is administered by the Pennsylvania State Climatologist.

Volunteer opportunities are open to all Pennsylvania residents, who will take daily observations (when possible) of rain and snow measurements. These observations will then be reported through a user-friendly web entry form. It is also sent automatically to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

The information collected by Pennsylvania volunteers during the recent heavy rain was used by the National Weather Service to predict the crest of local creeks and rivers. This data collected on the ground is much more accurate than Doppler radar estimates.

Paul Knight, senior lecturer and Pennsylvania State Climatologist at Penn State University, will be on hand to explain the program.

Everyone is welcome and you do not need to live in Carbon County to join. Youngsters can join too, but need to come with a parent or guardian. There is no fee for this training session, but registration is necessary to insure enough material is on hand.

To register, call the center at 570-645-8597 or e-mail frank@carbonwaters.org . For more information, visit the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians website

7/28/2006