Well…the reason I referenced my weather station 40 miles away is that my totals are fairly consistent with the totals he’s getting from local reports 40 miles from me. As it has been said, rain fall amounts will not be exact across a region, but a reading of 7 inches opposed to a reported ~3.5 inches is way out there.
I was getting confused about the physics or mechanics or geometry or whatever of the collection container size vs. collecting rain falling from the sky. But after thinking about it and actually typing out the question, it became clear that the diameter of the container is proportional to the amount of rain it captures. So a 5 inch diameter will collect the same amount as a 10 inch diameter and can be measured the same way since the area of the containers is proportional to the amount of rain that can be collected. I know what I’m trying to say but I don’t know if I’m explaining it right. I originally thought his container was too small.
So what remains is tweaking on things to increase accuracy. In this guy’s case, his collection container size is not the issue for numbers this far off. I originally thought there was a ‘standard’ size needed but now I can see it really doesn’t matter TOO much. Something else is throwing it way off whether it be bad placement or his kids playing tricks on him. I think he needs to relocate his gauge to see if that changes anything.
I do appreciate the feedback that I’ve gotten. Thanks.