Rain Gauge

Late last summer I wrote about getting a rain gauge and learning about CoCoRaHS, a network of amateur rain gauge readers, whose data is used by the NOAA. This spring, I kept noticing that whenever it rained there wasn't any water in my rain gauge. This was odd, I thought, but I didn't dwell on it any further. Until one day, when it dawned on me that the only explanation is that it must have a leak! So I went outside to investigate and found that yes, there was a big crack at the bottom. And that's when it dawned on me that I probably shouldn't have left the rain gauge outside all winter!

So I needed a new gauge. Wendy suggested I get the official CoCoRaHS rain gauge, which you need if you want to join the network. It's super fancy, allows you to measure to the hundredths of an inch, and can be used to measure the water content of snow. I got it and here it is:

There's a narrow inner tube that sits inside a large outer tube. A funnel at the top directs water to the inner tube, which holds up to an inch of water. When it fills up, it overflows into the outer tube.

Here's what it looked like last week, when we got 1.76 inches of rain in one night:

To measure that, I had to pour out the water in the inner tube, and then pour in the outer tube's water, using the funnel. It's more work than a normal rain gauge, but it's a lot more accurate.

I haven't joined CoCoRaHS yet. You have to go through training first and they highly recommend you measure the gauge at 7am each day. I'm not sure I have that level of dedication!

The heavy snow from the winter and the heavy rains this spring have left the pond near us at the highest levels I've ever seen it. This bench has been rendered fairly useless:

But the geese don't seem to mind. When I took that picture there were 2 geese and their 11 babies hanging out nearby:

Today we got 0.36 inches of rain, with more to come in the next few days. I look forward to measuring it!

2 responses
I don't have a water gauge (gage?) but we have had a lot of rain lately. I can't keep up with the grass cutting. I had a great time at the birthday party and happy you and Wendy could make it. The pictures turned out great. Wendy Goodwin and Steve visitied us today for several hours and we had a very nice visit. They stopped by to see Betty & Don Furlow and most of the Dayton relatives yesterday and will vist Leo & Bobbie in Florida before heading home on Wednesday.
Thanks for the comment, Otto. We enjoyed the birthday party, too! It was good to see everyone.