What does it mean when the weather reports that there was 1” rainfall?
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> What does it mean when the weather reports that there was 1” rainfall?
It means that a flat area that doesn’t soak up the water will have water to a depth of 1″. A smaller area will receive less rain in total but also needs less water to reach the same depth, so it’s a wash. You could measure rainfall in something like gallons per acre but inches (or mm) are more intuitive for most people.
Rain gauges generally have a funnel at the top with a narrower measuring cylinder inside. This just means that the cylinder fills to a greater depth which makes it easier to read small amounts of rain accurately. If the area of the funnel is ten times greater than the cross section of the measuring cylinder then the inch markers on the cylinder will be spaced ten inches apart.
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