Talk:Rain gauge

I added some rain gauge pictures. Changed an Americianism. to reflect a more world view. Added discriptions of standard rain gauge and tipping bucket. The two discriptions I gave apply to rain gauges in Canada and they may be different in other parts of the world.

Some questions I had weren't addressed
This Was a very poor article- What is the diameter of an official collector? - What is the diameter of the measuring tube? - What is the weight threshold for tipping gauges? - What is the relationship between volume/collector area and the official precipitation depth?

Clearly, differences in any of these would result in different measurements.

These questions are most logically addressed here - I just don't have the answers (and am having trouble finding them).
 * There appears to be no manual for the regular rain guage. I get about 11 cm diameter for the outer funnel and 3.5 cm for the diameter of the inner tube. These are for Canadian standard rain guage. As for the tipping bucket the manual does not say anything about the weight. However, it tips on ever .2 mm of rain, so whatever .2 mm weighs would be the threshold. Of course one thing to remember is that of the two types the tipping is less accurate and harder to make. Good luck. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 20:30, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the criticism that the article should explain units of measure. From other sources on the web, the basic idea is that the area of the collection is given in squared units of length( e.g. square inches) and the volume of rain is measured in cubed units of length (e.g. cubic inches). The ratio of volume to area is a number with dimensions that are units of length (e.g. inches). So a reading of "1 inch" of rainfall means 1 cubic inch of rain fell per square inch of ground. However, I dont' have any textbooks at hand that deal with rainfall to cite as sources - and who has encyclopedias anymore?

Tashiro (talk) 19:07, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree it's the volume that counts. A measuring cylinder with a 6 inch diameter will hold much more water at a horizontal measure of one inch that a cylinder with a diameter of 2 inches. so is there a standard diameter of the meauring device?


 * Yes, the 6 inch diameter cylinder will hold 9 times the volume of the 2 inch diameter cylinder at the same height. However the larger cylinder will also collect 9 times the volume of rain, since it has a larger area for collection (see Tashiro's comment above). The result is both cylinders left in a rain storm would fill to approximately the same height as each other. There could very well be a standard rain gauge diameter but it wouldn't make a big difference to the rainfall reading. This idea might need to be in the article? -SmokeySteve (talk) 10:11, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Questions re measurements
- What about Pts or points or rain...1/100th of an inch (or 25.4mm) correct? - Is 1mm of rain a standard over a certain area? e.g. 1mm over 1sq metre? Or can it be over any area? Zorruno 04:05, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Wrong image of the so-called "1st" rain gauge from Korea
The image shown in the article depicted as the "first" rain gauge is not from Korea, but from China. There is a clear description in Chinese language on the artifact surface (on the left) which indicates the year and date of Chinese Qing dynasty. Whoever posts this image, please remove it or make a correction.

Koreans used Chinese writings until the 1400s when King Sejong and his scholars made the Hangul. The writings do not say anything about Qing Dynasty. Please, whoever this user is, don't contribute wrong infos to begin or invigorate discrepancies and doubts.

(Wikimachine 02:57, 10 August 2006 (UTC))

There is no challenge in regards to the origin of rain gauge; Koreans are the pioneers in this area. However, the discrepancy is in the photo itself. The Chinese characters on the right side of the artifact indicate the year of Ching (or Qing 清) (Emperor year Name 年號: 乾隆; Dynasty period name 廟號: 高宗). 乾隆 was one of the well-known emperors in Qing period in China ruling from 1736 to 1795. Please verify these Chinese characters carefully with qualified historians and linguists, if you remain doubtful.

I'm sorry. The title "so-called" put me in aggressive manner. I thought the person who posted this controversy was an editor with some grudge or ill will against Koreans. Let me verify the source. (Wikimachine 01:01, 15 August 2006 (UTC))


 * Site 1
 * Site 2
 * Site 3
 * Site 4


 * On google search of "측우시" or Cheok Woo Gi, the 1st rain gauge, 4 of these (you could search for more) showed the exact same wordings for the character.


 * And I have some background knowledge in Chinese characters, so I am not talking expert about something I don't know.

(Wikimachine 01:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC))

format of the article
this article is awkward because introduction is about 1/3 of the article. I think that introduction needs to be short and the rest of the article should give more infos. (Wikimachine 20:01, 10 August 2006 (UTC))

Move to "Precipitation gauge"
My reasons to suggest a move from "rain gauge" to "precipitation gauge" is simple: rain is a subset of precipitation, but not the other way around. This article can be more general by a rename. A precipitation gauge (e.g., T200-B) can measure all forms of precipitation. Certainly, the majority of this article is about rain, however the suggestion of the article title neglects other forms of precipitation and their measurement. Post your comments below. +mwtoews 20:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * These are three different things, A rain gauge, a snow gauge and a precipitation gauge. Part of the problem with rain guage was the first sentence which said that they collected solid precipitation and I changed that. We never use the rain gauge to collect snow. We have a T200 type here as well. I think that the three types should each have their own article. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:15, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm a mergist, so naturally, I'd suggest that all of the precipitation gauges can be described, and contrasted in one article. After all, there is overlap between "snow gauges" and "rain gauges", since something like a T200 measures anything that falls into it, whether it is rain, snow or frogs. The other option is to make a precipitation gauge article to give an overview of the various gauges. This article could also compare and contrast their limitations and measurement methods, and have links to the specific gauges with enough content to warrant their own article (such as tipping bucket rain gauge and snow gauge). +mwtoews 23:30, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I would suggest that you have Precipitation gauge with a general overview but then in turn have Rain guage and Snow gauge as a tipping bucket is just one type of rain gauge. Both the snow and rain gauge pages could have a header to direct people to the precipitation gauge page for a general overview. We need a picture of the T200 type and I'll try and get one tomorrow. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:49, 14 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I created a disambiguation page called Precipitation gage recently. It links to various ways to measure different types of precipitation. There's no reason IMHO to move rain gauge anywhere. Guy1890 (talk) 22:51, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

World's First Rain Gauge
It may be that the Greeks or some other civilizations have used bowls, etc. to measure rain gauges, but it is undisputed that Jang Yeongsil made the world's first rain gauge as meteorologists would say. Standardized measuring device that was adopted nationwide under government program. Plus, I'm not making this up from my opinion that Korea was the 1st. See the reference sources. (Wikimachine 05:32, 17 October 2006 (UTC))

What is up with this?
I didn't like this at all. I am doing a rain report and this got me no where. It didn't have anything to do with what i need in my report. I'll have to use another site. because this one didn't help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 63.172.4.6 (talk) 14:10, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

History of rain gauge
Can't find valid fact from 2 source. also, this source does not writed those contents. Wantsg5edge 14:37, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The first known records of rainfalls were kept by the Ancient Greeks about 500 B.C. This was followed 100 years later by people in India using bowls to record the rainfall. The readings from these were correlated against expected growth, and used as a basis for land taxes.
 * In the Arthashastra, used for example in Magadha, precise standards were set as to grain production. Each of the state storehouses were equipped with a standardised rain gauge to classify land for taxation purposes.
 * I restored the "The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline; Kosambi, 1982" because it should be OK as a source. The other was odd and probably linked correctly at one time. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:15, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * sorry, but i can not confirmation of that source. is it "fact"? i can not find that source, even google. Wantsg5edge 19:13, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia accepts physical books as sources as well as "google" sources. When you get a chance, please read over such articles as WP:V and WP:RS to bring yourself up to speed on how this works. --Cheers, Komdori 19:16, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

How to Use and Measure a Rain Gauge
Every 10 inches measured by a rain gauge equals 1 inch. All rain gauges must have a funnel atop the graduated cylinder. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.112.37.220 (talk) 02:07, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Period of time
The article says: "measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a set period of time". Often in weather and news reports precipitation is reported as mm, no time period is given. I assume there is a standard time interval used. What is the standard time period used? Personally I feel meter per second makes more sense as a unit, any reason why that isn't used?85.230.137.5 (talk) 06:39, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * We measure it every 6 hours. The reports may be talking about 24 hour periods if the are talking about a forecast. The reason that metre per second isn't used is because you will never see that much rain. Look at Rain. The most rain in a 12 hour period is 53 in/1,346 mm. In other words 1.3 m in 12 hours, nowhere near enough to give a metre per second use. By the way, if you were wondering, and I know I was, the 1,346 mm in 12 hours works out to 112.2 mm per hour, 1.9 mm per minute and 0.03 mm per second. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 08:30, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the answer! Maybe not meter per second but perhaps mm per hour (or day) instead of just mm would be less ambigous I think? 85.230.137.5 (talk) 11:48, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Depends on the gage. In the United States, the heated tipping bucket and weighing precipitation gages used by ASOS are reported on an hourly basis in METAR reports.  Summary reports are generated in the 3-hour, 6-hour and 24-hour synoptic METAR reports.  Fischer-Porter weighing gages report in 15-minute intervals, but many of these are not transmitted in real-time.  Standard rain gages at NWS offices are generally read every 6 hours at the synoptic times.  For volunteer cooperative observers, their standard rain gages are usually read once a day.  Some agencies place collecting gages in the field which may only be read once a month or even once a year! Famartin (talk) 12:27, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

rain gauge
what rain gauge system is used in india? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.72.197.106 (talk) 09:34, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

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"Millimetre of rain" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Millimetre of rain. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 April 30 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion.  Sandstein  09:38, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

How it works and all.
Wikipedia should gives at least 30-40 lines or more than that about the particular subject then see all will have alot of profit all will open only your website no one will go in any other websites 2409:4061:4E1B:F834:0:0:8F4A:E601 (talk) 11:50, 4 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not interested in enhancing anyone's profits. We are only interested in summarizing independent reliable sources. If you have an addition to propose to this article, please propose it here. 331dot (talk) 11:52, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Nilometer
can i add nilometer used in ancient egypt in rain gauge article. David dclork li (talk) 16:24, 24 April 2023 (UTC)