Measuring rain

After a long dry spell, drops started falling on Sunday, finally giving me a chance to test my new electronic rain gauge (see previous blog entry).

It rained and rained, but the electronic gizmo showed no indication that there was any precipitation. I went into a deep funk as I contemplated how I would disassemble everything and return it to Cabellas. I gave up on the device and went back to work.

Several hours later I looked at it and it had, indeed, registered some rainfull. Apparently it doesn't just willy nilly update the monitor. Maybe it needs to fill up a certain amount before the rain is measured?

So far, my readings are in the ballpark. On Sunday, I measured .91 inches. That was identical to the National Weather Service measurement in Eureka. On Monday I measured 1.85 inches. That was slightly more than Eureka, which had 1.76 inches. That's reasonable because there are variations between the towns.

I'll continue this for a week or so and make comparisons. Then, if everything appears accurate, I can start printing rainfall measurements in the paper.