At their very simplest, it’s just an open-topped container. Rain falls in and you just measure how much rain fell in. Even if it’s windy and rain isn’t falling straight down, as long as it’s not so bad water literally bounces off the inside of the gauge and out then it’s still accurate.
They’re reasonably accurate, as long as they’re out in the open. A lot of them will have wider openings to catch more rain and the markings are calibrated to account for that. They do it that way so there’s more rain hitting it so even if some water does bounce out after hitting the inside it’s a smaller percentage of the overall water collected, making the gauge a little more accurate.
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