A Weighing Precipitation Gauge like other types of rain gauges is an instrument for measuring rainfall or liquid precipitation as it is also known, over a set amount of time.
It consists of a big storage bin, which will be weighed before and after it has rained to record the mass. There are basically two types of these gauges, one which has a pen on a rotating drum to measure the mass, or the other type which has an attached vibrating wire, which is connected to a data logger.
A well known type of Weighing precipitation gauge is the Pluvio, which uses specialty weighted technology to measure the precipitation, be it rain, snow or hail, and it takes a measurement every six seconds. With the technology within this device it is able to record accurately the precipitation, taking in to account wind, temperature and evaporation.
The capacity of these gauges can vary but they can be anything from 750mm up to 1500mm, and they can monitor the weather continuously. This could be anywhere from a home environment, are most probably a weather station.
Main benefits of the Weighing Precipitation Gauge are that they do not need much maintenance, once or twice a year. Very robust so that it can with stand all temperatures. Low power consumption and can also be run with solar power.
Although the Precipitation gauge is generally more expensive than the standard rain gauges, it has advantages in that it can measure big rainstorms, and can also measure snow and hail.
Another great feature of this device for scientists is the fact that it can measure chemicals in the atmosphere, to study the effect of green house gases in our environment.
There is many different types of rain gauges, the weighing precipitation gauge just one of many, it is up to you the reader to get out there, go and make one, or buy one and have fun, doing experiments and watching that data come in.