How are you using your precipitation data? - Discussion Forums - GPM

Hello from New Jersey!
I'm curious as to how you all are using your rain gauge precipitation data. I'd like to continue rain gauge measurements with my classes, year after year, and begin to create our own "climate data" for our town. Obviously, we won't have the normal 30 years of data, but there still might be some interesting patterns students can notice from year to year. After Spring Break, we will begin to take routine pH measurements, and see if there is any correlation between seasons and precip pH, and/or specific events (forest fires, weather inversions, world volcanic eruptions, etc.) and pH. I am open to any other ideas, as well!
Thanks,
Vicky

This isn't completely related to getting a long-term climate record, but I was curious to compare a GLOBE-style manual rain gauge with a electronic one, so I purchased an inexpensive one ($25 on Amazon) to put next to the regular one.

compared to

I haven't done a lot of analysis of the numbers yet, and I'm not a classroom teacher any more so this wasn't done with students, but it would be another way to collect and analyze data, and it's similar to what some ground validation scientists do frequently. (Including Dr. Ali Tokay, who works here at Goddard Space Flight Center, and who submitted a blog for the campaign, although he doesn't go into a great amount of detail about the comparisons he does in that particular entry.)

Thanks, Kristen!

We have an automated station attached to the school. I never thought of comparing the data. We'll add this facet as soon as we return from Spring Break!