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Different types of automatic rain gauge / gauges

Rain gauges and automatic rain gauges can be classed into different categories and generally follow this rule:

Graduated cylinders or standard rain gauge. These were made around the 20th century, and consists of a graduated cylinder, with a funnel attached to it, which is then sat in a large container. What happens when it rains, the cylinder fills up, and overflows into the large container, thus the cylinder is measured, and the excess from the large container, is put into another cylinder to be measured.

Generally most rain gauges measure the rain fall in mm, as does the standard rain gauge, and the amount of rain the standard guage can hold is 25mm. Each line on the cylinder is 0.2 mm, and once the water reaches the top, there is a small hole for the rain water to fall in to the larger container.

This is an example of a rain gauge.

Acu-Rite 00614 Wireless Rain Gauge features an extra-wide, 6 inch diameter rain collector (9.5 inches in height) to ensure better measurement accuracy.