The University of Reading crowdsources digitization of UK rainfall records to citizens stuck at home due to coronavirus COVID-19

The Average Annual Rainfall of Britain. Image from page 39 of "The British nation a history / by George M. Wrong" (1910)

The Average Annual Rainfall of Britain. Image from page 39 of "The British nation a history / by George M. Wrong" (1910)

The University of Reading, in a project called the “Rainfall Rescue” by Prof. Ed Hawkins, is crowdsourcing help from people stuck at home due to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. The goal is to help transcribe old written records that are missing in the UK digital weather database between the years 1820 and 1950.

The effort is open to the public. Join here to help: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/edh/rainfall-rescue

The digitized data allow scientists to analyze climatic changes better and to help them differentiate between short-term, medium-term, and long-term fluctuations in weather patterns.

In an effort to bring WMO quality rain and climatic measurement to the masses, BARANI DESIGN Technologies has developed a series of Internet-of-Things (IoT) micro-weather station sensors that are affordable enough for most households. More information can be found at the following links: