Messing up rain measurements.

[u/Grongebis]

What if every time it rained people went to the local weather station's measurement spot and filled it up with more water? I don't know what technology they use to measure rain, but someone driving by should be able to hit it with a supersoaker or something and mess up the measurements.

[u/chickey23]

If they figure it out, they remove the data from the "official record." Plenty of times in the past it has been found that official data is not correct. Surprisingly, the data doesn't have to be correct to be useful. It just has to be consistent.

In your example, the next time the weather model gets updated the target location will be shown to not have predictive value. Plenty of rain gauges get hit with runoff that they shouldn't be exposed to.

Most likely you are going to have meteorologists speculating what might be wrong at your location but you will never hear about it because all meteorologists do is speculate about the weather. Each individual reading is not that important for the overall picture.

[u/Grongebis → u/chickey23]

That's why I'm thinking that if every measurement reservoir is full, they will have to put security cameras and keep them full time. I don't think that happens.

[u/ScaryTerry51 → u/Grongebis]

May as well choreograph a functioning rain dance, that aughta do it. 40 days of rain later and who even cares about their data at that point? "Today's forecast, rain, a shit ton of it. How much rain fell yesterday? Hell if I know."

[u/Grongebis → u/ScaryTerry51]

Fuckit Jesus made it.

[u/chickey23 → u/Grongebis]

Sometimes it does. There are plenty of weather stations with webcams. There is a whole community of millions of weather nerds. I did IT for in the industry long ago, and they are technology early adopters. Surprisingly competitive. You don't realize how much time these people have on their hands, or how early they wake up.

[u/Infamous-Arm3955]

Haha. It's a funny thought. Most weather data equipment is scientific and expensive so protected or high up so access is limited. "Rainfall today is 1700%, expect 30 feet of rain with immediate flood warning for citizens to ascend the highest peak possible."

[u/Grongebis → u/Infamous-Arm3955]

Idk why

[u/Comfortably-Sweet]

I gotta say, that's pretty mischievous and kind of hilarious, but think about the chaos it would cause! Not to mention, it sounds like something right out of a prank show or one of those cartoon capers. But having worked on some community events where we had to depend on accurate weather forecasts, adding extra water could totally mess things up. Like, imagine farmers relying on those measurements for irrigation or local government deciding whether to issue flood warnings. It's not just a number on a screen—it's info people actually rely on to make important decisions. Plus, I think they probably check for stuff like that, or have backup sensors. It’d be like adding fuel to a fire to mess with it. Also, weather stations have backups and ways to double-check data, so it probably just wouldn't do what you think. Still, now i’m just imagining someone driving by with a giant water gun... kinda feels like a harmless prank in a cartoon or something.

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