Rain Gauge Cleaning

It can be a challenge keeping your rain gauge from looking grungy this time of year. Birds like to use them as perches and occasionally port-a-potties, bugs and spiders slide down the funnel and can't get out, and after a period of warm and wet or humid weather gunk can start accumulating in the bottom of the inner measuring tube. For the sake of accurate measurements we don't want dirt and bugs in the inner measuring tube. You can clean the inner measuring tube by pouring a little household bleach in the tube (a couple of hundredths worth). That will help dissolve any algae (the green stuff). You can also use liquid dish washing detergent. Use a soft bottle brush with a handle long enough to reach the bottom of the tube to clean out the bottom, and then rinse thoroughly. If you don’t have a suitable bottle brush, take a double sheet of newspaper and roll it into a tight tube. Insert it to the bottom of the measuring tube and give it a few spins. Remove the roll of newspaper, rinse, and you should have a sparkling clean inner tube. If your outer tube needs cleaning, it is large enough to wash in a sink with any dish washing detergent.