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Fisher & Porter Rain Gauge
The most common type of recording precipitation gauge is the Fisher Porter (F&P) gauge, developed by the Belfort instrument Company. The Fisher Porter gauge is designed to work for many years in remote and harsh environments.
The F&P gauge weighs the precipitation it collects in a large metal bucket. This bucket sits atop a mechanism which converts the weight of the water into the measuring unit of inches and then, every 15 minutes, punches holes in a paper tape, recording the amount of precipitation. In the winter months the bucket is filled with anti-freeze which allows snow and ice to melt and be accurately measured. The observer removes the tape once a month and sends it to the local NWS Office. After reviewing the data the tape is sent to the National Climatic Data Center for archiving. |
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