Collecting Climate Data
The 糖心直播's (UTRCA) Water Information Management unit monitors many sources of climate and hydrometric data in order to predict water level conditions. Data can include levels, estimated discharge rates, rainfall rates and cumulative totals, snow depth, and snow water equivalents. The UTRCA maintains six climate stations across their network as well as 21 rainfall rate precipitation gauges scattered across the watershed. 听
Culminative rainfall is collected in weighing gauges鈥攍arge buckets that uses weight-based technology to measure the amount and intensity of precipitation whether it be rainfall, snowfall, or mixed precipitation. Each spring and fall staff ensure the equipment is functioning properly. This fall, staff will winterize the weighing gauges across the watershed to prepare for the below freezing temperatures to come.
The rate of rainfall is measured with tipping buckets. Staff clean and calibrate them twice a year to ensure they are getting accurate data pertaining to how quickly rain is falling on the landscape. Tipping buckets funnel water into smaller buckets that tip from one side to the other as they fill, flipping a switch that counts how many times it tips. Each tip is equivalent to 0.2 mm or rain. These gauges can also be used to estimate accumulated rain in non-winter months when they are not frozen.听听
Some stations also have sensors that monitor wind speed, wind direction, snow depth, air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and other parameters. All of this data helps with flood forecast and warning, low water response, climate change monitoring in the watershed, water budget, and field work planning.听听听听
Climate Station