As the rain goes into the gauge it collects until it's weight is just enough to indicate one hundredth of an inch. The water then tips a lever which sets off an electrical current. Each time this happens, we see a digital counter add the rainfall. Measuring snowfall is a different story. Instead of collecting the snow in a container, observers just go out and stick a ruler into the snow to see how much has fallen and how much is on the ground.
Snow is measured to the tenth of an inch.
Usually a flat piece of plywood is put on the old snow so that the new snowfall can easily be determined. And if there has been drifting, more than one measuring site is used and the snowfall totals are averaged. TMJ4 is not responsible for the content of external sites links through our site.