Topic: Rain gauge at KPZQ

[miraculon]

I noticed once or twice on this page that there was a rain amount showing at KPZQ. It disappeared afterwards, but I think it was for the last 1 hour.
It currently isn't showing anything.

Driving by the station at KPZQ, I see what looks like a Texas Weather rain gauge with a white body and goldish funnel area. I might be wrong about that, I don't know if any other manufacturers use a similar color scheme.

Is there any other way to view the rain from one of these stations with a rain gauge? I did find this NWS link that has a few entries under 24 Hour precip, but they are all zeros on the current page. I don't know if this is a heated gauge. The NWS page does show "24 Hr", but my scraped page only had for the last hour. when it showed it. I selected the "7 Day" option but they were all zero. There has been measurable precipitation at my location less than a mile from KPZQ in the past week, so this zero indication is suspect.

Do ASOS/AWOS stations typically report rain amounts? I know that they have a precip type sensor, but the rain amount seems sketchy.

Greg H.

[METARMan]

PZQ is an AWOS.

Do you know the manufacturer?  Pictures?

It's likely a tipping bucket rain gauge with heater.   It may vaporize most frozen precipitation. It's possible the only way to get precipitation accumulation data is to add up the hourly totals in the METARs.

Some ASOS units have upgraded weighing gauges that do well with winter precipitation, but not most.

3.13. PRECIPITATION ACCUMULATION SENSOR. The term precipitation is defined as
including all forms, i.e., liquid, freezing, frozen, or combinations thereof. The term precipitation
amount is the liquid or liquid equivalent amount. There are generally two types of precipitation
accumulation sensors, the tipping bucket rain gauge and the precision scale. The tipping bucket
design measures every tip, e.g., 0.01 inches. The precision scale, sometimes referred to as an all
weather precipitation accumulation gauge (AWPAG), measures the weight of the precipitation
and reports it as inches of rain.

a. Performance Standards. The sensor should be capable of estimating the precipitation
amount with a range of 0.01 to 5-inches per hour, with a resolution of 0.01 inches and an
accuracy of 0.002 inches per hour (RMSE), or 4 percent of actual, whichever is greater.

b. Performance Testing. The manufacturer should conduct a test program to demonstrate
that the precipitation accumulation sensor(s) meet the performance requirements under the
environmental conditions found in paragraph 3.4.

https://www.faa.gov/airports/resources/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.current/documentNumber/150_5220-16

[miraculon]

Do you know the manufacturer?  Pictures?

No, only my guess of Texas Weather. The weather station in a fenced in area, so I can't get close enough to see it, even if I wanted to take the chance of attracting "official attention". I don't know all the possible mfg using the white bottom  and gold funnel color scheme.

I'll try emailing the airport manager after the holidays.

Greg H.