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Ghent University studies urban micro-climatic differences within Ghent

Tuesday 16 August: It keeps on raining in the botanical garden


Accumulation Precipitation 03/08/16-08/08/16
Cumulative precipitation for the period 03/08/16 till 08/08/16.
Due to the different microclimates we can expect quite some differences in the meteorological observations within a city, but sometimes there is more to it. As an illustration have a look at the precipitation measurements of the beginning of August. To the left you see the cumulative rainfall for the period 03/08-08/08.

The rainfall amounts measured in the botanical garden differ significantly compared with the other 5 stations. It has been raining - or better dripping - for 5 days while the total rainfall was still less than half the amount measured by the other rain gauges. The weather station in the botanical garden is located between trees and plants and some deviation is thus logic. But this seemed quite suspect.
Reason for problem
The problem...

A short visit to the rain gauge clarified the behaviour (photo to the right). Leaves were blocking the filter of the rain gauge and therefore the captured rain needed days to run through the filter to the sensor. After removing the leaves the botanical garden station does again show normal precipitation measurements.

We will have great fun in autumn...