Simple Rain Gauge

Maybe you've heard on the weather that an inch of rain fell in the last storm or a half-inch of rain might fall tomorrow. A rain gauge is a tool that measures the amount of rain that falls.

You can make a rain gauge to find out how much water falls in your yard (or anywhere else!) the next time it rains.

You Will Need:

- Plastic pop bottle, 2 Litre size
- Scissors
- Permanent marker
- Small stones or aquarium gravel
- Water
- Ruler
- A location open to the sky

Instructions:

1. Get an adult to help cut off the top part of the bottle.
   
   
2. Fill the curved part of the bottom of the bottle with small stones or aquarium gravel. This will weight your rain gauge to keep it from falling over.
   
   
3. Pour enough water into the bottle to cover the stones. Use the marker to draw a line at the top surface of the water.
   
   
4. Mark a "0" next to the line. This is your baseline.

5. Empty out the water for now.
   
   
6. Decide if you want inches or centimetres. Use the ruler and marker to measure 1, 2, 3 inches or centimetres, and also mark the halves.  Draw a line at each full count mark and label the lines.

7. If you want to make your rain gauge more accurate, use the ruler and marker to measure and mark all the quarter inches or the individual millimetres on the bottle.

8. Place the rain gauge in an open area that will not get any run off from rooftops or sheds.

9. Add water to your rain gauge up to the baseline.

10. Wait for rain!

11. When the rain stops, check to see how much rain fell into your rain gauge!