The photo to the right shows the standard gauge and its components. The lid acts as a funnel. The water fills inside the smaller tube. The larger reservoir acts as a catch for overflow.

The gauge is held in place by a cylindrical steel frame set in concrete by bolts. These bolts can be adjusted to level the rain gauge..

A kiln measuring stick is carefully lowered into the orifice at the top of the gauge until it touches bottom. When removed, the water level wets stick at a readable depth. This depth is the amount of rainfall recorded.

The smaller collector tube is emptied after data has been recorded. To empty the collector tube, the observer removes the funnel cap which sits snuggly atop the gauge and the collector tube. The collector tube is then removed and its contents dumped out before being placed back into the rain gauge unit.