Raingauge is an instrument used to measure rain.
Definition
First, let’s head to the most important question and define what actually a rain gauge is.
The rain gauge is a meteorological instrument for measuring the amount of precipitation (especially rainfall amounts) fallen during a given time interval at a certain location. In short – the rain gauge are used to measure rainfall. It is commonly used in personal or automatic weather stations. There are different types gauges, some use direct measurement technique or others are completely automatic.
You probably wonder what type of measurement units are used, and the answer is – usually inches (millimeters) or liters per square meter.
The rain gauge consists of two important parts:
a collector funnel;
mechanism to receive and measure the collected water;
The interior of the rain gauge funnel has special coating to reduce the wetting of the surface. The cone of the funnel should be deep enough, which allows the water to flow without any risk of splash. Mesh filter are used to prevent debris like leaves of bird droppings from clogging the gauge.
Place the rain collecting device at a sufficient height (usually 3 feet from the ground), and at a distance of several feet from other objects ensures that there will be no water rebound from floor or objects around.