Woodburn’s Valor Middle School students contribute to national climate database

Woodburn’s Valor Middle School students contribute to national climate database

Published 2:30 pm Tuesday, February 3, 2026

In Woodburn, a group of emerging climatologists is learning that every drop counts.

Students in Jennifer Nehl’s sixth-grade and English Language Learner science courses at Valor Middle School have been nationally recognized for their daily collection of weather and precipitation data in Woodburn.

The students received this recognition from CoCoRaHS, which stands for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS is a national nonprofit network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who work together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) across the country.

Data collected by groups and individuals in the CoCoRaHS network is used by the National Weather Service, the Oregon state climatologist and local meteorologists to document weather patterns, events and historical data.

A highlight of the Woodburn students’ daily collections came in November when they reported the rainfall totals from the month’s atmospheric river event. According to the Woodburn School District, their data reports contributed directly to local flood warnings for the Pudding River and other potential flood zones in the community.

Nehl’s students at Valor measure precipitation at station Or-MN-104, one of the few certified weather stations in the Woodburn area, making the student data especially valuable for monitoring drought conditions, water supply, agriculture and wildfire risk, according to the school district.

“For us at the weather service, CoCoRaHS observations are vital in helping us quality control the precipitation reports we get from weather stations since we cannot have weather stations everywhere,” the National Weather Service writes. “It can also clue us in to areas that may be in danger of experiencing areal or flash flooding.”

To view the Woodburn and surrounding area’s daily community precipitation data, visit tinyurl.com/yn8ttu5y.