Howdy.
We have a Tempest mounted about 10’ up on a length of steel conduit, and are seeing very, very low rainfall totals in comparison with the Tempest stations directly to the south and east of us — they’re reporting about 0.3" of rain, and I’m seeing only about 0.03" during the same weather event.
Thoughts? Could it be mounting? Could the rain gauge be defective?
Is it a new device? The Tempest goes through a field calibration when newly installed, it takes about 6 rain events before it reports accurately
Oh, interesting!
I’ve had it since August, but yeah, we’ve only had rain about a half dozen times. Maybe that’s it?
I’ve also noticed that since the rain has gotten harder here it seems more accurate. A friend observed that perhaps since it was higher up, the breeze was blowing the light rain away from the dome of the sensor. I was aiming for wind accuracy, but maybe should drop it down closer to the ground and go for rainfall, since we’re in a bit of a canyon anyway and if we get any wind at all down here in the canyon it’s probably roaring at the peaks.