My wife, in support of the upcoming OS and repair and my obsession, bought me a rain catcher that you spike into the lawn. It goes up to 5 inches, and gets wider as it goes up.

I use the old fashion 2 inch tuna can, with a much bigger opening (the rain catcher has a smaller rectangle opening)

1 inch in the rain catcher = 2 inches measure with a ruler. When I filled up the tuna can (2 inches in depth) it measured 4 inches in the rain catcher

What gives?

Thanks

It's wider at the top so that a smaller rainfall like 0.1" can be measured. You can't use a ruler on it.

xxryu139xx wrote:ruler is broken

It's a Stanley Tape Measure, maybe the rain catcher is cheap (she did pick it up at a place called Expect Discounts here in CT

But even if cheap, how hard is it to manufacture something like that correctly?

andy10917 wrote:It's wider at the top so that a smaller rainfall like 0.1" can be measured. You can't use a ruler on it.

Andy, but if 2 inches of water from the tuna can fills up to 4 inches in the rain catcher, how do I know it's accurate?

The rain catcher should have markings on it that report the proper amounts, calibrated for the wider top.

andy10917 wrote:It's wider at the top so that a smaller rainfall like 0.1" can be measured. You can't use a ruler on it.

You also can't take a can with an opening area of X and expect the same measure in a rain gauge with an opening area of Y. That's why it measured higher when you emptied the can into the gauge.

Edit to add:
For example, if you collected 2 inches of water in a 5-gallon bucket, it would overflow your 2-inch tuna can.

All great points, thank you. So the rain catcher is a truer reading for measuring rainfall correct?

We're getting a some severe storms tonite in CT, I have both set up close to each other. Will be curious to check them out in the am, and will post results.

Ohio2112 wrote:

CTShoreGuy wrote:We're getting a some severe storms tonite in CT, I have both set up close to each other. Will be curious to check them out in the am, and will post results.

How did the comparison go?
If you got some heavy rain I'll bet the actual gauge showed more. Less spashage.

[ Post made via iPod ]

The storm was BIG TEASE, didn't get much at all. Some areas of CT received 3-4 inches from this storm.

Ohio2112 wrote:If you still plan to compare when you do get some rain, let me know. I'm curious to see how accurate the can is.

[ Post made via iPod ]

Will do!