Precipitation

Objectives:

1) to understand how rainfall data is collected and how it is

useful to the hydrologist
2) to be able to determine the average rate of runoff flow for
basins with either uniform or non-uniform distribution of rain
gages

Background:

Precipitation, in inches or millimeters of water, is measured either by

non-recording or recording precipitation gauges. Both types of gauges
consist of a bucket or container with vertical sides which is capable of
collecting water. The depth of water accumulation is dependent upon
the cross-sectional area of the container and so different sizes of
containers placed at the same location would yield different water
depths. To prevent this discrepancy, most rain gages are made a
standard size so that their readings can be easily compared relative to
the readings obtained by other rain gauges.

The standard non-recording rain gauge consists of a cylindrical bucket

with a funnel and a measuring tube in its interior. A standard size 8
inch funnel tapers down to an inner cylindrical tube which has a cross-
sectional area of 10% of the 8 inch opening. This decrease in area
allows for a more precise measurement of water depth, measurement
to a hundredth of an inch! The gauge can measure up to 2 inches of
rainfall in the small inner-diameter tube and anything in excess of 2
inches overflows into the outer 8 inch cylinder and which can then be
measured incrementally by emptying and refilling the inner tube.
Non-recording rain gauges are the most common type used because
they require less operation and maintenance and volunteer observers
are commonly used to read and relay their information to the
appropriate agencies periodically. The disadvantage to non-recording
rain gauges is that they record only an accumulated rainfall depth of
the time between readings. It is, therefore, difficult to get an estimate
of the intensity of rainfall.

Recording rain gauges are used when it is necessary to know the

various intensities throughout a storm. A typical recording gauge is a
weighing gauge. An 8 inch diameter bucket sits on a scale and
collects precipitation. As the precipitation increases in the bucket, the
weight increases. At given time intervals, a mechanical device drives
a pen to mark the inches of water collected, as calibrated by the

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weight of water in the bucket at the time. Because of the mechanical
nature of these gages, they are much more expensive than the non-
recording gauges, but they have the advantage of allowing the
recording of rainfall intensities.

The National Weather Service, part of National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is the primary agency responsible
for collecting rainfall data throughout the United States. They
maintain an extensive network of both recording and non-recording
precipitation gauges measuring rainfall in all cities and most towns in
the U.S. Official weather observers or volunteers read and record the
rainfall in non-recording gauges while data is often sent by satellite
from the automatic recorders.

Rainfall data, along with stream gaging (stage) data, help hydrologists
and weather forecasters monitor the progress of storms and provide a
basis for determining relationships between the amount, duration, and
intensity of rainfall and the amount and rate of runoff expected as a
result. Hydrologists can theoretically predict floods using expected
rainfall data. By warning townspeople ahead of time of impending
danger, levees could be built or communities could be evacuated in
time so that damage and loss of life can be lessened.

3 Methods of Determining the Average Depth of

Rainfall in a Watershed

When estimating the average depth of rainfall over an entire

watershed, it is important to consider the number and spatial
distribution of the rainfall data that you have available to you. The
more raingages in the watershed, the better the estimated rainfall
depth. However, if all the raingages are all located in just one corner
of the watershed, and no raingages are located in other large portions
of the watershed, then simply taking a simple arithmetic average is
not going to accurately estimate the average rainfall over the
watershed area as a whole. This is because the large areas of the
watershed that had no raingages could have had significantly higher
or lower rainfall than the area of known rainfall depth, since some
areas invariably receive heavy rainfall while others receive only minor
amounts, and still other areas may not get any. These variations could
significantly change the average depth over the entire watershed area
if the depths of rainfall were known in those ungaged areas.

Method One: Arithmetic Mean (Uniform distribution of

raingages)

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If raingages are uniformly distributed throughout the watershed, then
a simple arithmetic average can be taken and used as a fairly good
estimate of the average depth of rainfall over the area. For an
arithmetic average, all values of rainfall depth collected at each
raingage are added together and divided by the number of raingages
involved.

Method Two: Isohyetal Method (Non-uniform distribution

of raingages)

If the raingages are non-uniformly distributed throughout the basin,

then there are two different methods that can be used to determine
the average depth of rainfall. One method, called the Isohyetal
Method, involves rainfall contouring. In its simplest form, this
method involves drawing isohyets, or lines of equal rainfall, on a map
of the watershed (similar to elevation contour lines on a topographic
map). The contouring method results in an isohyetal map, that differs
with each storm. The hydrologist then looks at the lines of equal
rainfall for the given storm and takes into account the relative areas
bounded by each isohyet to come up with the average rainfall depth
over the basin.

Procedure for Isohyetal Method:

1. Draw isohyets (lines of equal rainfall) on the map.

2. Fill out the data table. First, find the average precipitation between
isohyets. This will be the arithmetic average of the two isohyets.
For example, between the 5 and 10 inch isohyets the average
would be (5+10)/2 or 7.5 inches.
3. Find the area between the two isohyets by counting the number of
boxes and use the scale to determine the areas.
4. Multiply the area between isohyets by the average precipiation
(average isohyet). Sum these values.
5. Divide the above sum by the total area of the basin.

Average Rainfall Depth = sum of all the (avg isohyet x area

between isohyets)
area of the entire watershed

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 Method Three: Theissen Method (Non-uniform
distribution of raingages)

Another perhaps more common method of estimating the average

depth of rainfall is the Theissen Method. This method assigns,
somewhat arbitrarily, distinct geographical regions of the watershed to
each of the raingages in it. No matter what the characteristics of a
given storm, the region belonging to a raingaging station is fixed for
any storm in the basin. This is a disadvantage of the method. The
following is the procedure for determining the average depth of
precipitation using the Theissen Method.

Procedure for Theissen Method:

1. Use pencil and draw light, straight, dashed lines connecting each
point to each next point for the points that are closest to the
watershed boundary. You will form a closed polygon shape.

2. Lightly draw dashed straight lines from each of the points on your
polygon to any points inside the polygon that are nearest to each
outside point. You will be making a series of triangles. Also draw
dashed straight lines from point to point for points entirely inside of
that original polygon, as long as those lines do not cross any other
line you have drawn. **Note: Not every point on the polygon will
connect with every point inside the polygon.
3. For each dashed straight line drawn between two points, locate its
midpoint and draw a short mark perpendicular to that dashed line
at that point (the midpoint).

4. Now, you will begin to form a polygon around each raingage. Keep
in mind that the goal of the following step is to have a
polygon fashioned out of the perpendicular lines which
completely surrounds or isolates each raingage from one
another.

Look at one of the points (raingages) toward the center of the

polygon (not the ones on the outer polygon). Notice how
perpendicular marks seem to surround the raingage. If the
perpendicular lines were longer, they would intersect and form a
polygon around the raingage. Extend the perpendicular lines to
start forming this polygon. Extend perpendicular lines that are

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 farther from the raingage, toward the raingage until they intersect
with another extended perpendicular line, and then extend those
perpendicular lines no farther. If you did extend them farther, erase
the extensions that go beyond the intersection of the
perpendiculars. **NOTE: Extended perpendicular lines may not
meet until they are extended to outside the particular triangle or
even outside of the watershed. This is ok.

5. Extend the perpendicular lines that are closest to the watershed

boundary out so they reach a little past the boundary but not
necessarily connecting to any other perpendicular line. Interior
points should now be surrounded by extended perpendicular lines.
The outer points may not be surrounded by all perpendiculars. Its
polygon may consist of an extended perpendicular line or two but
also of a piece of the watershed boundary.

6. Darken those lines (the extended perpendiculars that form the

polygons and extend to the watershed boundary.

7. You may now erase the dashed straight lines you drew originally.

8. To find the area covered by each raingage station, count the

number of boxes in that gages polygon and use the scale to
determine its area. Use the data table to record the number of
boxes and the scale factor and then determine the actual area of
each polygon.

9. Fill out the last column of the data table by multiplying the amount
of rainfall in each raingage by the area of its polygon surrounding it.
Add the areas of each polygon together to get the total watershed
area and write that area at the bottom of the data table. Also add all
the weighted precipitation x areas together for the top part of the
following equation. To get the average precipitation over the entire
watershed, you will use the values from the data table to get a
weighted average as follows: (Show your work by filling in the
appropriate numbers from your data table into this equation as you
calculate this average.)

Average Rainfall Depth = sum of all the (precip. x polygon area for
that gage)
area of the entire watershed