Weather Station Rain Gauge

[Cookie]

I just get the felling it aint collecting as much rain as it could be,

according to my weather station its collected 36.9 mm this month

yet up the road no more then 2 miles its closer to 97mm http://www.hebrides-photos.com/weather/Weatherindex.php

their just seems to be such a huge difference

any ideas

[Zenarcher]

Make sure it is put in a very open area try to get as far away as any objects like a house and place it in a flat location, the reason for this is the wind can cause air turbulence and it makes the rain not reach it.

Does your rain gauge a cube shape or a circle shape if its circle it catches the rain even better.

[Cookie]

its away from the house and far away from all obstacles! its circular and is attached to fence post, I think the wind my affect it

[Terminal Moraine]

its away from the house and far away from all obstacles! its circular and is attached to fence post, I think the wind my affect it

Your gauge will definitely be under recording, Cookie, especially in such a windy location as yours.

I've done some tests with rain gauges on the ground, with the rim 30cm above the surface, as per Met' Office regulations and a gauge in a very open and exposed location will catch up to 60% less rain than one in an open but more sheltered area.

If yours is attached to a fence post I reckon it will regularly be catching 20-60% less rain than it should

[Cookie]

thats very annoying, might look into moveing it

[Flying Astronomer]

Consumer-grade automatic stations are also apt to under-read, as only a random selection is sampled for accuracy. From other discussions, it seems they can under-record by at least 10%, so it's worth hanging a decent plastic gauge near to your station, so that you can compare results and calibrate if needed.

My Davis VP2 collector typically has a good 0.2mm worth in the cup after it stops raining, not quite enough to tip it over and register the reading. This also makes the next rain session look abnormally heavy for the first few minutes. However, an error of this magnitude is entirely acceptable in the overall scheme of things! Next to siting errors, it's utterly insignificant!

J.

[Cookie]

I have used a separate rain gauge a plastic one have misplaced the stats, but was 2 or 3 mm short every day

[Zenarcher]

I have used a separate rain gauge a plastic one have misplaced the stats, but was 2 or 3 mm short every day

Its probably because of the wind.

[Cookie]

why would the plastic one be better then?

[Zenarcher]

If it has that circular top on it, it will catch the rain better.

[Flying Astronomer]

If it has that circular top on it, it will catch the rain better.

Hmmm, I don't think that's entirely right, is it? There would have to be quite serious design defects in the 'funnel' for the automatic station to gather that much less rain. It's almost certainly due to calibration error than whether or not there is a circular top or not. In fact, I've never seen anything other than a circular gauge, auto or manual!

J.

[Zenarcher]

The circular top catches the rain better from all edges, if you have a old bowl outside it catches a lot more rain than what a square top would.

[weather1967]

Cookie one else ,you have continuity all time good reception signal,if you have wireless conection and you have not good signal from out remote temp/hum sensor ,maybe you have loss some updates .

[Cookie]

im going to stick to using the rain gauge I think, thanks for your feedback guys

[LiveMeteo]

I just get the felling it aint collecting as much rain as it could be,

according to my weather station its collected 36.9 mm this month

yet up the road no more then 2 miles its closer to 97mm http://www.hebrides-photos.com/weather/Weatherindex.php

their just seems to be such a huge difference

any ideas

i don't know how and where did you placed your station, but you should know that rain is the most changeable meteorological parameter. i'm going in meteorological high school and i know that