All You Need To Know About Rain Gauges

Have you wondered about the amount of rain, snow or hail that reaches your home annually? Moreover, have you wondered how you can determine the amount of such weather phenomenon that reach the place where you live versus your relatives or friends' place from another country, state or city?

Why bother, you might ask. Nevertheless, if you happen to ever wonder about this, then you might want to get yourself a rain gauge and have fun with determining the weather phenomenon that we call the rain.

A rain gauge is important to study of liquid precipitation, which is manifested in the form of rain. Hydrologist and even meteorologists in order to analyze and determine the amount of precipitation within a certain period often use this instrument. Rain gauges have two parts in order to determine both data. It comprises a part to catch the precipitation and another part to measure the total amount of precipitation caught.

A rain gauge can be effective when it is placed on an isolated area - ideally without trees and buildings since the presence of these structures could affect the overall data that can be generated by the equipment. Factors such as hurricanes and storms with terrible winds are factors that can also affect and influence the accuracy of data that can be generated by the rain gauge.

There are several types of rain gauges. Each type of this equipment has specific pros and cons whenever they are utilized. Here are the three types of rain gauge:

1. The standard rain gauge - this type utilizes a graduated cylinder with attached funnel, placed on an ideally bigger container. The container is for holding the excess that could pour out from the graduated cylinder.

2. The weighing rain gauge - for this type, 3 materials are used - pen, rotating drum and storage bin. The precipitation being monitored is filled into the storage drum. Meanwhile, the drum's overall weight is recorded by the pen which is placed on the lower part of the storage bin.

The weighing rain gauge is capable of measuring the level or amount of chemicals that may be present in the atmosphere as the precipitation occurs. However, this type of rain gauge can be costly - making the instrument quite difficult to acquire. Still it is better than the tipping bucket rain gauge for it generates measurements that are far more accurate.

2. The tipping bucket rain gauge - this type uses several materials - big copper cylinder, funnel, two levers, pen and wheel for recording. The two levers are stabilized like a scale so that when a certain amount of the precipitation being measured is reached, it would tip over and signals the recorder. The pen makes upward or downward motions as it records the lever's movement, along with the precipitation's total amount. This type of rain gauge has been updated by utilizing a pivot and plastic container.

The rain gauge is not limited for use by hydrologists and meteorologist. News stations are also not the only ones with access to rain gauges. Anyone could buy a rain gauge to utilize for their own specific objectives.

Remember that achieving the purpose for acquiring such equipment is important, whatever type of rain gauge you choose to have. The objective of which is to have an accurate measurement of the precipitation amount on a given place and timeframe.