COME RAIN OR SHINE
Volunteers monitor official GV gauge

Green Valley received 12 hundredths of an inch of rain Wednesday and 3.25 inches total so far for the month of August.

We know this because of the rain gauge located at The Villages of Green Valley recreation center, which is checked every morning by three volunteers who live in the community.

The Standard Rain Gauge, invented in the late 1800s, is a cylindrical tube made of heavy brass or copper with a funnel at the top and a small opening. It can hold up to eight inches of water, and if Green Valley ever receives more than eight inches in one day (now that would be something), there is an overflow bucket to collect and measure the excess water.

The gauge has been at The Villages since 1998, according to the National Weather Service in Tucson. Retired meteorologist Stan Hall volunteered the spot and recruited local volunteers, says Frank Perry, one of the original recruits.

Perry checks the gauge around 8 a.m. and also records the previous day’s high and low temperatures, then calls the information in to the National Weather Bureau at Tucson International Airport.

He says his interest in the weather began when he was living at the foot of Mount Rainier in Washington, where he would measure up to 100 mph winds with his wind indicator.

Even though the recorded rainfall in an area is important information for the National Weather Bureau, which has been measuring Tucson rainfall at the Tucson airport since 1948, it can never be a perfectly accurate representation, Most storms are only a few miles wide and create uneven precipitation levels across a community.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726

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