Precipitation is defined as the liquid or solid products of the condensation of water vapour falling from clouds or deposited from air onto the ground. It includes rain, hail, snow, dew, rime, hoar frost and fog precipitation. The total amount of precipitation which reaches the ground in a stated period is expressed in terms of the vertical depth of water (or water equivalent in the case of solid forms) to which it would cover a horizontal projection of the Earth’s surface.

Precipitation gauges (or raingauges if only liquid precipitation can be measured) are the most common instruments used to measure precipitation. Generally, an open receptacle with vertical sides is used, usually in the form of a right cylinder, with a funnel if its main purpose is to measure rain. Since various sizes and shapes of orifice and gauge heights are used in different countries, the measurements are not strictly comparable.

At the AWS Namche station the DQA035 Lsi-Lastem rain gauge is mounted on a 1,5 m mast.

The station was installed on October 2001

This model of Rain gauge has a 1.000 cmq collector area.

The measurement device is composed of a collector cone and a double chamber bascule connected to a magnete that operates one (optional two) reed switch, which generates impulses that can be counted by external meters: each impulse is equal to 0.2 mm of rain (optional from 0.1 to 0.5 mm).

The mechanical and electrical specifications are:

- Collector surface area: 1000 cmq

- Collector area diameter: 420 mm

- Measurements range: 180 mm/hr

- Resolution: o,2 mm/imp. (opt. 0,1; 0,3; 0,4; 0,5; mm/imp.)

- Accuracy: 0-1 mm/min: 1%

1-3 mm/min: 2%

3-5 mm/min: 4%

5-10 mm/min: 8%

- Contact: 1 reed (opt. N.2 reed) 0,5 A/24V non inductive

- Pulse duration: 100 msec.± 5

- Collector cone material: Brass

- External housing material: Inox AISI30

- Tipping bucket material: Alluminium

- Cable: 10 m

- Weight: 6,3 kg

- Power supply: /thermocover 100 W, 24 Vca/Va