Page 5 - Black Range Naturalist, Vol. 1, No. 2

National Weather Service established the Cooperative Weather Observation Network in 1890. Currently, there are 8700 volunteer observers or remote recording sites across the United States which make at least one observation a day. Those sites that make a daily observation are establishing a climate record for their various locations, climate referring to the average weather conditions for a specific location over a period of years.
People have been observing the weather and taking note of its changeability for a long time. In the Bible, Solomon wrote, “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.” (Ecclesiastes 1:6) Turns out, that is not a half bad description of the general circulation pattern of the atmosphere and to think that it was written in the 10th century B.C. In the early history of our nation, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were all amateur meteorological observers. Originally, observations of the weather were empirical in nature, i.e. a windy day, turned sharply cooler, a gully washer of a storm, etc. As the science of meteorology progressed, instruments were invented, refined, and standardized to give accurate measurements of the elements.
With regard to meteorological observations, the oldest and simplest of the meteorological instruments is the
rain gauge, the first one having been used in Korea about 1440. These collection devices were standardized and distributed over the Korean peninsula, not for the purpose of studying the weather, but for generating tax revenues. The greater the precipitation in an area, the better the crops that would be forthcoming, and the more that farmers could be taxed upon their anticipated income.
The standard rain gauge for the National Weather Service is the 8-inch gauge. The equipment consists of a brass cylinder 8 inches in diameter with a clear plastic collection tube inside and a funnel, also 8 inches in diameter which channels the precipitation into the tube (photo following page). If the collection tube fills, any excess precipitation collects in the brass cylinder to be measured separately.
The collection tube is one tenth the size of the funnel, so the scale is magnified by a factor of 10. A graduated measuring stick is lowered into the collection tube. When the stick is removed, a waterline appears briefly which indicates the amount of precipitation collected. A mark that is one inch high on the measuring stick represents 1/10 of an inch of precipitation; so the accuracy of the measurement is to the nearest 0.01 of an inch.
Precipitation events can be very general and cover a wide expanse of territory,
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