Welcome to The Small World of Rain Gauges

I started The Small World of Rain Gauges because we are passionate about capturing the beauty of science, preserving weather history, and showing how the simplest tools can help us understand our changing world.

 Historical Preservation, rescuing vintage gauges from past eras to keep their stories alive.

Celebrating the history, science, and quirky charm of rainfall measurement.
Explore the collection

The Rain gauge with five-inch diameter, of the type adopted in the 1860s by the British Rainfall Organisation and later the Meteorological Office. 

 The gauge consists of a copper funnel, an outer can and an internal collector. The rim is one foot off the ground to prevent in-splashing.Regular monitoring of rainfall in Britain was stimulated by a run of unusually dry years in the 1850s. Meteorologist George James Symons was instrumental in establishing a network of hundreds of observers who reported their observations back to him for publication, in a initiative partly funded by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Symons conducted tests of different rain gauge designs, and recommended this five-inch-diameter design as the standard device. Gauges of the type were also adopted by the Meteorological Office.

The Small World of Rain Gauges Constantly Evolving