You must have heard about the rain gauge, wind gauge, and many others while you were studying in your old school a few years back. Well, they are the weather instruments. But how can they measure the weather?
As you watch the news channel, your weather forecaster provides you with the detailed information about the condition of the weather for the day or for the entire week. Although you may argue that the weather remains unpredictable, your weathermen simply makes a forecast. Meaning to say, they base their details on the use of some instruments which supply them with the accurate readings. Yes, they try their very best to come up with the best results. That is, to measure everything in a precise way. However, there are some factors that hinder them to get the most exact readings such as hurricanes, snow, and storms, to name a few. Through all of these, it piques a particular interest on each and every one of us as to how the weather professionals study and measure the weather.
For the record, there are five main instruments that are used to get the accurate readings of the weather. They are the rain gauge, the anemometer or wind gauge, barometer, weathervane, and the thermometer. How do they differ in nature and function? Read on below.
The rain gauge. This device comes available in a variety of sizes and shapes. You can see one that looks like a glass jar or something that is shaped like a butterfly, a dog, or a frog. From the conventional design with the graduated cylinder and funnel, technological innovations have paved the way for more styles, sizes, and shapes. There are also different kinds of this measuring instrument like the tipping bucket, the standard rain gauge, or the weighing rain gauge.
Anyhow, they all bear the measuring lines on the side which can either be in millimeters or inches, depending on the amount of rainfall that a particular location gets. A new addition to its family is the wireless rain gauge which can be mounted anywhere in the lawn. It electronically transmits the data so you can do the reading even when you are indoors. There is also another kind which has the self-emptying feature so you can conveniently measure the level of precipitation despite the heavy downpour.
The anemometer. Also known as the wind gauge, this device measures the speed of the wind. Its conventional form is the cup-anemometer which bears four hemispherical shafts which are positioned horizontally towards one another. There are two categories of anemometers. One is the fixed wind gauge which is used to measure the speed of the wind in a particular location. It is capable of giving out other details like the maximum and average wind speed. The other group is the hand-held anemometer which simply displays the momentary wind strength. It is portable and can be taken anywhere.
The thermometer. It measures the temperature. From the conventional mercury thermometer, here comes the wireless thermometer which can either display the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit.
The barometer. This is a useful instrument for making weather forecasts since it gauges the atmospheric pressure. It indicates whether the pressure rises, falls, or remains steady.
The weathervane. This device tells the direction from where the wind is blowing.
Now it’s clear as to how the weathermen analyze, measure, and forecast the weather phenomenon. That is by means of using all these basic instruments.