From the NSSL PING Website:

The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) needs YOUR help with a research project!

If you live in the area shown on the map, the the Precipitation Identification Near the Ground project (PING) wants YOU to watch and report on precipitation.

PING is looking for young, old, and in-between volunteers to make observations—teachers, classes and families too! We have collected over 45,000 observations since 2006, already making PING successful because of your help.

PING volunteers can spend a little or a lot of time making observations. The basic idea is simple: NSSL will collect radar data from NEXRAD radars in your area during storm events, and compare that data with YOUR observations.

Why? Because the radars cannot see close to the ground, we need YOU to tell us what is happening.

Are snowflakes fallin’ on your head? Are you getting pinged by hail? Tell us where you are and what is hitting the ground. NSSL scientists will compare your report with what the radar has detected, and develop new radar technologies and techniques to determine what kind of precipitation—such as snow, soft hail, hard hail, or rain—is falling where.

The report is easy! You can use our mobile apps, or make your report from this website by clicking on either the “Report Hail” button (to report hail), or the “Report Winter Weather” button (for snow, sleet, or freezing rain and mixtures of these). There is no commitment, and no minimum amount of reports.

We need as many observations as we can get! Follow this project and others on the NSSL Facebook page.