DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY

College of Agriculture and Food Science

Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

Name: Carisse Jade E. Angulo Course & Year: BSA – 3 Plant Breeding
Laboratory Instructor: Julie Mar J. Cayangho Laboratory Schedule: M 13:00-16:00
Course Number: AgSc 21 Offering Number: C159

RAINFALL MEASUREMENT
Laboratory Exercise No. 1

I. Introduction

Without a hint of rainfall events in particular places, drought could be a consequence,

thereby resulting in crop failure. Rainwater is one of the significant factors contributing to
agriculture as it provides water sustenance to living organisms, especially crops (Brennan,
2018). Water evaporated from different sources of water returns to the ground through
precipitation.

Measuring precipitation can help monitor drought incidence and avoid weather-related
natural disasters, such as flooding. Measuring the amount of rainwater is achievable by using
different rainfall measuring instruments. However, the most common instrument used in
measuring rainfall activity is the rain gauge. A rain gauge collects the available rainwater
falling on it and documents the change in rainfall depth over time, usually expressed in
millimeters (mm) (Gires, 2018).

II. Learning Outcome

At the end of the exercise, the student will be able to:
1. Make an improvised rain gauge and measure the amount of rain through it.
III. Methodology

In this exercise, a plastic bottle was utilized. The top part of the bottle was carefully cut off,
using a scissor, just below where it begins to narrow. Pebbles were put at the bottom of the
bottle to keep it from getting blown over by the wind. To serve as a funnel, the top part was
positioned upside down in the bottle without the cap, and the edges were then aligned and taped
together to firmly hold the top part. A line was drawn on a piece of tape and was attached
vertically from the top edge of the bottle to the bottom just above the pebbles to serve as the
bottom of the rain gauge. The bottom mark was labeled “0” and with the assistance of a ruler,
millimeters were marked along the piece of tape from edge to edge. After labeling the piece of
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

tape, the improvised rain gauge was placed on a leveled surface and water was poured until it
reaches the bottom mark.

After performing the steps in making the improvised rain gauge, it was then placed in an
open space where there are no obstructions or should be at least 10 m away from any
impediments. The water in the bottom should not be below the bottom mark and was refilled
when evaporation took place. If it rained in the span of 24 hours, the gauge was checked, and
the water level was measured and noted with the date and the amount of rain. After doing so,
the water was poured out of the bottle until the bottom mark. The collection of data was done
at exactly 6:37 A.M. after every rainfall event. These steps were repeated for every 24-hr
rainfall event for 30 days.

IV. Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows the data on the daily rainfall measurement of Barangay Catarman, Liloan,
Cebu gathered from May 08, 2021, to June 06, 2021, using an improvised rain gauge. The data
implicate the occasional rainfall events on the said location.

As noticed from the figure, there are days where rainfall activity is minimal. Other days,
such as the 19th, 23rd, 26th, and 30th days of May, experienced light to moderate precipitation.

It is also observable from the figure that the highest recorded rainfall level was on June 01,
2021. The cause of this precipitation level rise is the intensification of Typhoon Dante, which
caused several areas, including Cebu, to be under the red rainfall advisory. The issuance of a
red rainfall advisory happens when the observed rainfall is more than 30mm within an hour or
if the downpour continues for the next three hours and exceeds 65mm (How to make sense of
PAGASA's color-coded rainfall advisories, n.d.).
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

DAILY RAINFALL (MM)

95
90
85
80
75
70
65
RAINFALL LEVEL

60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
5/8 5/10 5/12 5/14 5/16 5/18 5/20 5/22 5/24 5/26 5/28 5/30 6/1 6/3 6/5
DATE

Figure 1. Daily rainfall measurement data

Raw Data

Date
Daily rainfall measurement
05/08/21 05/09/21 05/10/21 05/11/21 05/12/21 05/13/21
0 0 0 0 0 4
05/14/21 05/15/21 05/16/21 05/17/21 05/18/21 05/19/21
0 19 0 0 0 2
05/20/21 05/21/21 05/22/21 05/23/21 05/24/21 05/25/21
1 0 4 11 0 0
05/26/21 05/27/21 05/28/21 05/29/21 05/30/21 05/31/31
20 4 0 0 23 2
06/01/21 06/02/21 06/03/21 06/04/21 06/05/21 06/06/21
88 0 0 8 0 5
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

EXPERIMENT GALLERY

Image 1. Experiment Set Image 2. 05/13/21 – Image 3. 05/15/21 – Image 4. 05/19/21 –

up (05/08/21) 4mm 19mm 2mm

Image 5. 05/20/21 – Image 6. 05/22/21 – Image 7. 05/23/21 – Image 8. 05/26/21 –

1mm 4mm 11mm 20mm

Image 9. 05/27/21 – Image 10. 05/30/21 – Image 11. 05/31/21 – Image 12. 06/01/21 –
4mm 23mm 2mm 88mm
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

Image 13. 06/04/21 – Image 14. 06/06/21 –

8mm 5mm

V. Conclusion

Rainfall level measurement is possible by using different rainfall measuring instruments.

As the most common instrument, the utilization of rain gauges assists farmers in monitoring
drought occurrences to effectively manage their crops and helps meteorologists forecast the
weather and warn citizens of upcoming weather-related natural disasters.

VI. Answers to Questions

1. Are you familiar with rain gauge? Can you measure the amount of rain occurring
in your locality without the aforementioned instrument? If no, why? If yes, how
will you do it?
- Yes, I am familiar with a rain gauge. As for measuring the amount of rain occurring
in my locality without the instrument, any material with a perfect cylindrical shape
will do. However, if such material is unavailable, buckets can also act as
substitutes.

VII. References
Brennan, J. (2018, March 09). The Rain's Importance to Life on Earth. Retrieved from
Sciencing: https://sciencing.com/rains-importance-life-earth-23021.html
Gires, A. (2018, August 14). How Do We Measure Rainfall? Retrieved from Frontiers for
Young Minds: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2018.00038
 DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
College of Agriculture and Food Science
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte
www.vsu.edu.ph

How to make sense of PAGASA's color-coded rainfall advisories. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Official Gazette: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/how-to-make-sense-of-pagasas-
color-coded-warning-signals/