Errors and Adjustments for WMO-SPICE Tipping-Bucket Precipitation Gauges

Although some countries employ weighing precipitation gauges in their monitoring networks, the majority of automated solid precipitation measurements are recorded using heated tipping-bucket precipitation gauges. Despite this fact, the performance of heated tipping-bucket gauges for the measurement of solid precipitation has not been well characterized. Tipping-bucket gauges can suffer from significant response lags, as precipitation accumulated in the gauge funnel must be melted in sufficient quantity to trigger a full tip before being measured. In addition, underestimates of measured precipitation may be worse for snowfall in a tipping-bucket gauge than for other types of precipitation and gauges. Several heated tipping-bucket gauges were evaluated in the World Meteorological Organization Solid Precipitation InterComparison Experiment (WMO-SPICE). The results of this intercomparison were used to evaluate potential corrections for the undercatch of solid precipitation typically exhibited by heated tipping-bucket gauges.