Topic: Cocorahs versus your other rain gauges for 2015

[ocala]

Cocorahs measured 48.59 for the year.
Davis tipping gauge measured 43.92.
I must mention that I had a referb done on the Davis in May of this year. After that
the rainfall totals were extremely close. I also made the hole smaller in the Davis bucket which
led to better heavy rain readings.

[dasman]

I ran my Davis and CoCoRaHs next to each other for a year and they were only off by about 1 inch. After tinkering with the adjustments, they agree 60-70% of the time. The downfall is of course very heavy rain. I like the idea of making the hole smaller. This would allow less to be missed by the tipping buckets. How did you do it?

[PaulMy]

My CoCoRaHS measurement total for 2015 was 768.5 mm and the Davis VP2 649.1 mm. 
 
I have never calibrated the Davis, and the Davis and CoCoRaHS are situated about 100 feet apart and with large trees around our neighbourhood.  Also, and the biggest factor is that the Davis does not have a heater so my snow accumulates on and around the bucket and melts whenever the sun gets it warm enough, and the bucket gets over-filled with new snow so a lot doesn't then get in the bucket during the winter months.
CoCoRaHS vs Davis (mm) in 2015:
Jan 66.6 vs 30.0
Feb 26.4 vs 2.0
Mar 9.1 vs 10.6 (some melt from previous month)
Apr 47.3 vs 52.2 (some melt from previous months)
May 56.9 vs 52.9
Jun 199.7 vs 176.2
Jul 97.9 vs 74.4
Aug 59.4 vs 54.2
Sep 35.9 vs 32.0
Oct 77.9 vs 74.4
Nov 43.2 vs 43.0
Dec 48.2 vs 47.2
Year 768.5 vs 649.1
 
Paul

[ocala]

I ran my Davis and CoCoRaHs next to each other for a year and they were only off by about 1 inch. After tinkering with the adjustments, they agree 60-70% of the time. The downfall is of course very heavy rain. I like the idea of making the hole smaller. This would allow less to be missed by the tipping buckets. How did you do it?

I used concrete crack sealer because it dries very hard. I drilled a small hole in the opening and that's it.
You do need to test it when your done. Since the hole isn't perfectly round the stream coming out can be off center which would lead to much lower readings. You do have to occasionally check that the hole is clear. The smaller diameter means it can clog easier.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Anybody figure out why CoCoRaHS does NOT want electronic readings reported?   Duh... if it's in your CCR gauge, it's in your CCR gauge??? For Fliipin' Sakes.. a STANDARD is a standard! What is difficult about this? You're modifying your standard system's gauge to 'match with something else?   Get Serious!   This apples to oranges is beginning to be a bit tiresome... . let's move on to 'global warming' or whatever...

[tomcj2]

CoCoRaHs   44.99 in.
Davis VP2   45.33 in.

difference     0.34 in. (approximately 0.75%)

The gauges are about 30 feet apart  In view of the error in reading the CoCoRaHs gauge (there is an error of +/- 0.005 in. each day there is reportable precipitation) I consider them to be exactly the same.

[ocala]

Anybody figure out why CoCoRaHS does NOT want electronic readings reported?   Duh... if it's in your CCR gauge, it's in your CCR gauge??? For Fliipin' Sakes.. a STANDARD is a standard! What is difficult about this? You're modifying your standard system's gauge to 'match with something else?   Get Serious!   This apples to oranges is beginning to be a bit tiresome... . let's move on to 'global warming' or whatever...

Mike I don't understand why you have to bash a topic because you disagree with it.
If you have nothing to add then don't bother opening it.

[WXWIZARD]

Not sure how cocorahs would be able to track this?  I'm sure there are some that use tipping bucket rain gauge amounts for their reports.  More needs to be done to have the gauges mounted correctly instead of being so keen on just one type of manual gauge.

Anybody figure out why CoCoRaHS does NOT want electronic readings reported?   Duh... if it's in your CCR gauge, it's in your CCR gauge??? For Fliipin' Sakes.. a STANDARD is a standard! What is difficult about this? You're modifying your standard system's gauge to 'match with something else?   Get Serious!   This apples to oranges is beginning to be a bit tiresome... . let's move on to 'global warming' or whatever...