Long-Term Rain Gauge Comparisons for Climatological Applications

Multiple rain gauges have been operated simultaneously for several decades at the historic Fort Collins, Colorado weather station on the campus of Colorado State University. Using 12-hour and 24-hour observations from a National Weather Service standard rain gauge as reference, this study examined the performance of several types of rain gauges currently in use -- both manual and electronic. Using only recent data since the 1990s, observations from the Belfort Dual Traverse Universal gauge, the NWS Fischer-Porter recording gauge, a tipping bucket gauge, a low-cost manual "wedge" gauge and also the 4"-diameter gauge used by the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network (CoCoRaHS). Similarities and differences in observed precipitation as a function of time of year, time of day, precipitation type (rain vs snow) and precipitation intensity will be examined and discussed.