mm of rain??

J1

Hi
If the forcast is for 0.5mm's of rain is that just showers. Sorry I know I'm showing my ignorance here. In mm's what would be considered heavy rain?

WolfeIRE

J1 wrote: »

Hi
If the forcast is for 0.5mm's of rain is that just showers. Sorry I know I'm showing my ignorance here. In mm's what would be considered heavy rain?

0.5mm could be one shower, a number of light showers or a day of drizzle.

8mm in one day is considered a heavy rainfall. They even made a movie about it.

octo

J1 wrote: »

Hi
If the forcast is for 0.5mm's of rain is that just showers. Sorry I know I'm showing my ignorance here. In mm's what would be considered heavy rain?

'Showers' refers to the convective type of cloud which produces the precipitation, not the amount. A shower could give 20mm and all day rain might give 5.

So no, it's not just showers.

Su Campu

Met Éireann define a "Wet" days as one where at least 1.0mm of rainfall is recorded in 24hrs. A "Heavy Rainfall" day is where at least 10.0mm is recorded.

In other countries these definitions will vary due to climatological reasons.

Note In Germany, the Met Service use litres/m² instead of mms when quoting rainfall amounts. The two are the same thing, in that 1mm is defined as the level of water filling an area of 1m², which is equal to 1.0 litre.

km79

where can you find out how many mm fell in a particular area not near met eireann weather stations?

WolfeIRE

this might help but again is location specific
http://www.irelandsweather.com/index.php

km79

thanks the oranmore one is quite close to me.
is there anyway to looks at rainfall on days gone by though rather than just the current day?
im sure its there but cant find it

WolfeIRE

no individual daily breakdown. click on records and then scroll to find rainfall records for past 24 hrs or 7 days etc.

Deep Easterly

Su Campu wrote: »

"Heavy Rainfall" day is where at least 10.0mm is recorded.

I thought that was 20.0mm +? I remember reading that somewhere before but just can't remember the source.

Deep Easterly

km79 wrote: »

thanks the oranmore one is quite close to me.
is there anyway to looks at rainfall on days gone by though rather than just the current day?
im sure its there but cant find it

What part of east Galway are you in KM?

km79

kiltullagh just outside athenry towards dublin

Su Campu

Deep Easterly wrote: »

I thought that was 20.0mm +? I remember reading that somewhere before but just can't remember the source.

I got those figures here

Wet Days and Heavy Precipitation Days:

A wet day is a day on which 1mm or more rainfall is recorded. There were between 1.5 and 2.5
times the number of wet days compared to normal.

A heavy precipitation day is a day on which 10mm or more rainfall is recorded. There were
between. 3 and 5 times the number of heavy precipitation days compared to normal.

km79

even better just spotted one for loughrea

Deep Easterly

km79 wrote: »

kiltullagh just outside athenry towards dublin

I doubt my rainfall stats would be any good to you so. Oranmore's would be your best bet. Rain gauge's come fairly cheap though, I'd recommend this one:

http://www.weathershop.co.uk/shop/electronic/rain-gauge/tfa-3003-weatherstation.html

I use a Davis to record mine but I also have the above placed on the shed roof. It reads similar to the Davis, rarely deviating over 0.5mm from it for every 25mm. It keeps records as well so you should get one. It would be great to have some rainfall stats for your patch.