Is There An Official Definition Of Rain Used In Seattle?

[Bayne]

Having seen some seattle-area weather, is there an official definition of how much percipitation is needed for it to be 'raining' or have been 'a rainy day'? Considering today where there was weather between an 'angry fog' and 'slight drizzle' around lunch, it got me wondering with regards to the x days of rain/year statistic of seattle weather.

[Frannsaidh]

Qualitatively yes In my expierience, I've found that showers means that the rain will be short lived, the precip amount isn't important it's the duration of the precip... so "Rain" means all day 24 hour constant water dropping from the sky... and showers mean that the same amount of precip will happen in 10 minutes somewhere in the day because the weather forecaster hasn't got a clue what's going to happen.One thing I like about the forecasts here.... they tend to be "possible fog in morning, partly cloudy with sunbreaks and showers in the afternoon".... about 50% of the time..which means that the weatherman has a clue the other 50%... and that's usually during our limited summer months and around February when it rains like cats n' dogs... funkbot 91 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[KyndMryn]

If you can not see Mt. Ranier, it is going to rain. If you can see Mt. Ranier, it just rained.

[Shann]

Measuring rainfall:The standard way of measuring rainfall or snowfall is the standard rain gage, which can be found in 4-inch/100 mm plastic and 8-inch/200 mm metal varieties. The inner cylinder is filled by 25 mm/1 inch of rain, with overflow flowing into the outer cylinder. Plastic gages will have markings on the inner cylinder down to 0.25 mm/0.01" resolution, which metal gages will require use of a stick designed with the appropriate 0.25 mm/0.01" markings. Seattle Rainfall:The official weather station for the city is at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the driest part of the city, and the gauge itself was placed, by chance, at the driest part of the airport. Actual annual rainfall for the city is around 254 mm(10 in) greater than the official records indicate. Rain is also collected and measure by AWS(Automatic Weather Station). The frequency of readings will depend on the requirements of the collection agency. King County is one of the few places to have a fully installed CALAMAR station. CALAMAR(CAlcul de LAMes d'eau a l'Aide du Radar - Calculating Rain with the Aid of Radar) calibrates and processes the NEXRAD data in a unique and patented way that produces rainfall measurements with a typical accuracy of +/- 10%. This is a far higher degree of accuracy than is available from "raw" radar data, or from rain gauges alone. Accurate rainfall measurements take much of the uncertainty out of calculating relationships between rainfall and RDII whether it is by modeling or direct measurement.A rainy day is any day that produces a measurable amount of rain at Sea-Tac. The angry fog or slight drizzle for a few hours may be enough for this to measure. For instance, in the last 3 days we have had 0 inches of rainfall recorded. In the 15 days prior we have had .06 inches of rainfall recorded.Great paper on measuring rainfall with radar techniques4 Seattle area rain gauges with live information - USGSMore information:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainfallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_gaugehttp://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/i-i/rainfall_monitoring.htmGreat paper on measuring rainfall with radar techniques

[Ty]

Rain gauge at Sea-Tac Airport(.06 inches in the last 18 days) Measuring rainfall:The standard way of measuring rainfall or snowfall is the standard rain gage, which can be found in 4-inch/100 mm plastic and 8-inch/200 mm metal varieties. The inner cylinder is filled by 25 mm/1 inch of rain, with overflow flowing into the outer cylinder. Plastic gages will have markings on the inner cylinder down to 0.25 mm/0.01" resolution, which metal gages will require use of a stick designed with the appropriate 0.25 mm/0.01" markings. Seattle Rainfall:The official weather station for the city is at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the driest part of the city, and the gauge itself was placed, by chance, at the driest part of the airport. Actual annual rainfall for the city is around 254 mm(10 in) greater than the official records indicate. Rain is also collected and measure by AWS(Automatic Weather Station). The frequency of readings will depend on the requirements of the collection agency. King County is one of the few places to have a fully installed CALAMAR station. CALAMAR(CAlcul de LAMes d'eau a l'Aide du Radar - Calculating Rain with the Aid of Radar) calibrates and processes the NEXRAD data in a unique and patented way that produces rainfall measurements with a typical accuracy of +/- 10%. This is a far higher degree of accuracy than is available from "raw" radar data, or from rain gauges alone. Accurate rainfall measurements take much of the uncertainty out of calculating relationships between rainfall and RDII whether it is by modeling or direct measurement.A rainy day is any day that produces a measurable amount of rain at Sea-Tac. The angry fog or slight drizzle for a few hours may be enough for this to measure. For instance, in the last 3 days we have had 0 inches of rainfall recorded. In the 15 days prior we have had .06 inches of rainfall recorded.Great paper on measuring rainfall with radar techniques4 Seattle area rain gauges with live information - USGSMore information:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainfallhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_gaugehttp://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/i-i/rainfall_monitoring.htmGreat paper on measuring rainfall with radar techniques   snowdzine's Recommendations Jumbo Rain Gauge Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5(based on 2 reviews) Frommer's Seattle 2006(Frommer's Complete) Amazon List Price: $17.99 Used from: $9.50 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5(based on 2 reviews) Oregon Scientific Cable-Free Long-Range Rain Gauge Amazon List Price: $79.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5(based on 33 reviews) snowdzine 91 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Machk]

In my expierience, I've found that showers means that the rain will be short lived, the precip amount isn't important it's the duration of the precip... so "Rain" means all day 24 hour constant water dropping from the sky... and showers mean that the same amount of precip will happen in 10 minutes somewhere in the day because the weather forecaster hasn't got a clue what's going to happen.One thing I like about the forecasts here.... they tend to be "possible fog in morning, partly cloudy with sunbreaks and showers in the afternoon".... about 50% of the time..which means that the weatherman has a clue the other 50%... and that's usually during our limited summer months and around February when it rains like cats n' dogs...

[Reifr]

Normal weather. If you can not see Mt. Ranier, it is going to rain. If you can see Mt. Ranier, it just rained. rsctx48 91 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.