Royal Rain Catchers to the Rescue - Gathering rainfall data helps us learn about our islands.
Freshwater is a part of everyday life, from drinking and cooking, cleaning, showers and baths, and growing food. Like other islands in The Bahamas, most of the freshwater comes from rainfall on Cat Island. As the world gets warmer and climate changes, precipitation changes too. There might be periods of drought where there is little rainfall. Or there might be too much rainfall during storms. You can imagine how important it is to know how much rain falls in different parts of The Bahamas.
There are 11 automatic weather stations across the entire Bahamas, and those stations are only on seven islands. Volunteer rain gauges were established to fill in the gaps, but monitoring is inconsistent. While the region experiences a wet and dry season, we cannot understand rainfall across the country year to year without measurements on every island.
In 2021, Young Marine Explorers installed the first two CoCoRaHs rain gauges on Cat Island (in Arthur’s Town and Orange Creek). Our Royal Rain Catchers check the rain gauges as often as possible and record what they find. By consistently measuring the rainfall throughout the year, we can understand what the rainfall is like and how it changes with the seasons. Down the line, these measurements will help the community plan their water use and make decisions about preserving precious freshwater.