Topic: What is the ground truth here?

[ggsteve]

As I was swapping cylinders in a steady rain this morning my boarder collie zigged when I zagged and I dropped my 24 hr. catch cylinder.  I scooped it up quickly, but I lost a fair amount of water.  I reported what was left in the cylinder (.23")as my official reading, then explained what happened in the comments, noting that my Rainwise tipping gauge recorded .39" for the 24 hr. period 

My question is, did I handle this correctly?  I don't think it would have made sense to not report at all.  That would be my first missed report since I got my cylinder 362 days ago.

[Jáchym]

If you lost a fair amount I would probably just report the comment  and your other measurement.  The amount of water left in the cylinder is more or less useless because it tells you nothing about the real amount,  but rather how much you were able to catch.

[miraculon]

I would have made it a "NA" and left the comment with the Rainwise amount. I agree with Jachym that the amount left in the gauge after the mishap is meaningless. Bad Dog! No treat for you!
Maybe you could post a picture of the "culprit"... 

Greg H.

[ggsteve]

I would have made it a "NA" and left the comment with the Rainwise amount. I agree with Jachym that the amount left in the gauge after the mishap is meaningless. Bad Dog! No treat for you!
Maybe you could post a picture of the "culprit"... 

Greg H.

"NA" is a good idea.  Here is a picture of my "co-conspirator":

[miraculon]

He has such an innocent "who me?" look....
(if "he" is a "she" my apologies)

Greg H.

[PaulMy]

I reported what was left in the cylinder (.23")as my official reading, then explained what happened in the comments, noting that my Rainwise tipping gauge recorded .39" for the 24 hr. period 

I would have done the same.  And yes, I frequently think of "what if I drop the tube...".
Reporting what you know you had left in the tube along with explanation and your Rainwise amount, in my view is better than saying "Not Available".
 
Paul

[ocala]

I think the real question is how accurate is your Rainwise in the type of rainfall you just had.
If it's always spot on just record that amount and call it a day.
Also it might be a good idea to verify the amount in the small cylinder before taking it out.

[Jáchym]

I reported what was left in the cylinder (.23")as my official reading, then explained what happened in the comments, noting that my Rainwise tipping gauge recorded .39" for the 24 hr. period 

I would have done the same.  And yes, I frequently think of "what if I drop the tube...".
Reporting what you know you had left in the tube along with explanation and your Rainwise amount, in my view is better than saying "Not Available".
 
Paul

Hmm, I wonder, why do you think so? To me, the amount left in the tube is absolutely meaningless, it is just an indicator of how much he was able to catch, or rather how much spilled out and if it was not just some small amount - which it was not in this case, based on the Rainwise measurement it was around half of the original amount, then this number tells you absolutely nothing and in my opinion it is rather confusing to report it, because somone might not read the comments and think this is what he measured. To me, it makes no difference if you spill half, the entire amount or whatever larger proportion - all is then N/A.

[PaulMy]

Hmm, I wonder, why do you think so?

One of the important part of CoCoraHS is that you also report when there is zero precipitation.  This is mentioned in many of the emails that CoCoRaHS sends to members.  So in my view a qualified upload indicating the circumstance in the included "Comment" section is better than doing nothing.  Now if they instructed us to do it different, I would follow their guideline!

Paul

[Jáchym]

I understand that but I didn't suggest to report zero, I suggested N/A, but not the number. If you report the number you are risking someone will just ignore the comments and take the number - which we agree is completely meaningless. However, if you put N/A, it is obvious that there was something wrong.

or is it the case that the system does not allow to differentiate between 0 and N/A? Then of course it would be problematic.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Right... case of accident:  NA and explain in comments.  Please don't attempt to guess, or use 'electronic data' info in the form field. You could enter the PWS reading or 'guesstimate' in your comments, but not in the 'input' field,.