The materials for building
- A funnel
- A 2’3" transparent hose. (1/10" in diameter)
- 2 square pieces of wood of about 3/4" on the side and 5’ long.
- A cork big enough to put on the hose.
- 3 tightening rings to fix the hose on the piece of wood.
- 3 screws (1" long)
- A water-resistant marker.
A rain gauge
On the hose put a mark with the marker every 5". In between the 2 marks you have 1L of water.
Put the funnel at one end of the hose. Fix the hose on one end of the piece of wood with the tightening rings. Put the cork at the other end of the hose. Set the piece of wood in a cleared space.
On a rainy day in france you will have about 20 to 40mm of rain, that’s about 20 to 40 L/m² .
A thermometer
On the other piece of wood put a garden thermometer (you can stick it on or fix it with rings as you did for the rain gauge)
You can build a small shed (3 wood plates with a roof that you can glue together) so as to have good data, even if it’s very sunny.
A barometer
If you promise to be very careful a grown up might lend you a barometer. It will allow you to understand better how weather works. If the weather is nice then you are in a high pression system and if it’s not then you are in a low pression system (most of the time)
This device can break easily so you’d better hang it in a safe place (in the chief’s tent for example)
A moisture meter
A moisture meter (the device that will measure the air moisture) is rather difficult to build.
Fortunately, nature provides us with a free moisture meter : pine cones !
If you look at it closely you will see that when it’s hot and sunny it is open, when there’s fog it will close.
The data log
Use the example below for your data log. Each day (at the same hour) you can measure the temperature, the pression (in millibars mb), the precipitations, and the aspect of the sky.
That way you’ll live harmoniously with nature.
