Pre-Victorian Weather Observation Technique

[Weather-history]

Here's something that I recently discovered that was popular in the 1830s with weather observers in measuring intensity of rainfall but largely became defunct in the 1850s with the rise of George Symons of British Rainfall fame, it was called pluviometrics. The problem of the time was an effective way of measuring the intensity of rainfall. It was in 1828, when an amateur weather observer Tristian Waddle from High Legh in Cheshire, developed a technique called pluviometrics to solve this problem in measuring it.

The idea was that one would sit near a puddle of water or if one was not available a bucket of water or a tin bath filled with water which was called a puddlometer. They would then measure the number of drips that was observed in the puddlometer per minute. The area of the puddlometer was vital so the numberof drips per square inch per minute could be determined.

The scale was

<10 drops per sq inch per min was light intensity

10 to 30 drops etc was moderate intensity

>30 drops etc was heavy intensity

At the height of its popularity, thousands of weather observers would sit next to their puddlometers, taking measurements, some up to hours on end.

From Waddle's 25th March 1835 diary entry

"A useful two hour period measuring the intensity of rain, today. A 10 minute period where rain was very intense, >30 drops per sq in per min. Received correspondents from other Cheshire and Lancashire observers, the techinque is highly popular and pleases me no end to hear so many useful hours has been spent by their puddlometers."

This technique was sadly lost in the late Victorian era and its founder, now forgotten, T.Waddle .

Edited March 31, 2010 by Mr_Data

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