Have you ever wondered how much rain is really falling when you watch a heavy downpour? South Nation Conservation has opportunities for watershed residents to join our Rain Gauge Network to collect and share precipitation data.

A rain gauge is a type of instrument meteorologists and hydrologists use for measuring the millimeters of rain that falls in a given time. You can record rainfall with different instruments; however the most convenient is a graduated cylinder that you stake in the ground.

Place rain gauges in an open area where there are no obstacles, such as building or trees that would block the rain. This also prevents the water collected on the roofs of buildings or the leaves of trees from dripping into the rain gauge after a rain, resulting in inaccurate readings.

Each time a rainstorm occurs, volunteers take measurements of precipitation. We record and collect these precipitation reports and displays the data for end users to view and compare.