Do you want a rain gauge?

I have been asked in various emails about rain gauges and where they can be purchased. This is the time of year we start to see storms develop and it helps encourage folks to be weather watchers and keep track of rainfall amounts. This assists all the local meteorologists keep everybody informed on how much rain has fallen across the area.

I’ve called several stores throughout El Paso and found that Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, to name a few, all carry the rain gauges. These range in price from as little as ten dollars up to as much as fifty bucks for a fancy one. Before you head out to buy one, realize that when we start to get rain (like we have been having), these gauges tend to go quickly so be prepared to see an empty shelf at times. I purchased one myself several years ago from Lowe’s for around fifteen bucks. This is a three foot metal pole with a rain gauge attached. It works great!

When you place the rain gauge on your property it is important to position it away from any building or trees. This will prevent any rain being blocked from entering the funnel or from artificially adding too much water from runoff.

When you receive rain, please let us know how much and your location so we can include it in our weather forecasts.

Also, if you know some rain fell and there is nothing (or just a tiny bit less than 0.01″) we call this a trace. This should be reported as “T” on your reports. Even if there were just a few drops that don’t even dampen the gauge, you should still report a trace. By the way, trace amounts do not add up over time.