Live rainfall for your location or any city — today's rain in mm and inches, 24-hour chart, weekly and monthly totals, intensity classification, and rain forecast updated in real time.
Live precipitation and storm cells moving across your area, centred on your location. Toggle radar and precipitation layers; drag to explore. Map & weather layers © MapTiler & Open-Meteo.
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This online rain gauge shows the current rainfall for your exact location or any city worldwide using live weather data. It displays today's rain total in both millimetres and inches, hourly rainfall over the last 24 hours, weekly and monthly rainfall totals, current rain rate, intensity classification, and a 24-hour rain forecast. The animated cylindrical gauge fills with water in real time to match actual rainfall accumulated today.
Most weather apps are built to tell you what the sky will do next. Far fewer will tell you the thing people actually want to know after the rain has passed: how much fell. The panel above answers that directly. It shows the rainfall total for your location right now, yesterday, over the last 7 and 30 days, from the first of the month, and from the first of January — in millimetres or inches, for anywhere in the world.
Rainfall is an accumulation, not an instant. A reading of "2 mm/h" tells you the current intensity; it says nothing about whether your garden received 4 mm or 40 mm this week. That is why the totals below the gauge matter more than the live rate for most practical decisions, whether you are irrigating a field, planning a concrete pour, deciding if the trails have dried out, or simply settling an argument about how wet the month has been.
The short windows answer the everyday questions. The 24-hour total tells you how much rain fell overnight — useful before you decide to water, mow or dig. The 7-day total smooths out a single heavy storm and shows whether the week has genuinely been wet. The rolling 30-day total is the one gardeners and growers tend to watch, because it tracks soil moisture better than any single downpour does.
All three are calculated from daily precipitation totals for the exact coordinates you searched for, not from the nearest airport. Search any city above, or allow location access, and every figure recalculates for that point — so rainfall by city, or rain accumulation for your own back yard, uses the same underlying data either way.
Month to date runs from the first of the current month to today. Year to date runs from 1 January. These are the numbers used in agriculture, water management and insurance, because they describe the season rather than the weather. A wet fortnight in a dry year is a very different thing from a wet fortnight in a wet one, and only the cumulative figure tells you which you are looking at.
Year-to-date rainfall also reveals slow problems that daily forecasts hide. A shortfall of a few millimetres each week is invisible day to day, but by July it can add up to a drought.
A total on its own means little. Six hundred millimetres by July is unremarkable in Cardiff and extraordinary in Cairo. The "compared to normal" figure puts the year-to-date total in context by measuring it against the average for the same calendar window over the previous ten years at the same location.
A reading of +18% means roughly a fifth more rain has fallen so far this year than is typical by this date. A reading of -30% means the location is running well short. This is the single most useful number on the page for anyone making decisions across a season rather than a day.
If you keep a physical rain gauge in the garden, expect small differences — and understand why. A gauge measures the rain that falls into one cylinder, in one spot. Summer thunderstorms are intensely local: it can pour on one side of a road and stay dry on the other. Two gauges a few hundred metres apart can disagree substantially after the same storm.
The totals here come from a weather model that estimates precipitation across a grid, so they represent the area around your coordinates rather than a single point. Over a week or a month the two converge closely. Over a single convective storm they may not, and in that case your own gauge is the better record of what landed on your ground. Neither is wrong; they measure different things.
This page answers one question fast: will it rain today near you? Our live rain radar cross-references regional precipitation feeds with numerical weather-forecast data to spot rain moving toward your exact coordinates, so you can see your real chance of rain right now and confirm when showers are likely to start or stop — straight from your browser. The rain map refreshes frequently, so you catch changes in the sky before they reach your street.
Most people misread what a "chance of rain" figure means. Scientifically it is the Probability of Precipitation (PoP), and it combines two things: how confident forecasters are that rain will form in the area at all, and how much of your local area is expected to get measurable rain (more than 0.2 mm or 0.01 inches). So a 40% chance of rain does not mean it rains for 40% of the day — it means rain is expected to fall across a set portion of your local sector. That is why the chance of rain right now can be high even when it is dry at this exact second: the system is moving in.
Ground weather radar sends out high-frequency microwave pulses that bounce off raindrops, hail and snow. By timing how long each pulse takes to return, the rain radar works out the size and density of the approaching cloud mass. By measuring tiny shifts in the returning wave frequency — the Doppler effect — the storm tracker can also tell whether a thunderstorm cell is moving toward you or away, which is the basis of every live rain map and storm-tracking layer.
A traditional hardware rain gauge only catches the drops that fall directly into its funnel. This virtual rain gauge complements that by reading regional radar reflectivity values (measured in dBZ) and converting them into an instant estimate of ground accumulation, giving you a reliable rainfall tracker that updates continuously rather than once a day.
A trace means measurable rain fell, but too little to register a number on a standard gauge — usually under 0.2 mm (0.01 inches). It is the few passing drops that dampen the ground without forming puddles.
It comes down to droplet size and cloud type. Drizzle is tiny, closely spaced drops under 0.5 mm from low stratus cloud. Rain is larger drops falling steadily over a wide area. Showers start and stop abruptly and change intensity quickly, falling from isolated convective clouds.
Live trackers combine radar reflectivity with sensors that detect the electromagnetic pulses from lightning, so severe cells can be flagged almost the instant a strike grounds. Accuracy is high for detecting active cells, though the exact minute rain reaches a single street is always an estimate.
Definitions, how gauges work, types, reading & making one, rainfall units, history & uses.
A rain gauge — also called a pluviometer, ombrometer, or udometer — is a meteorological instrument used to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation that falls over a set period of time. The simplest rain gauge is an open cylindrical container of known diameter with a calibrated scale measuring depth in millimetres or inches. Rain gauge meaning in everyday use covers any device that measures rainfall — from simple garden cylinders to professional automatic stations. The word comes from Latin pluvia (rain) and Greek metron (measure).
How a rain gauge works depends on its type. A standard cylindrical rain gauge collects falling rain through an opening of known area and measures the depth of accumulated water on a calibrated scale. A tipping bucket rain gauge uses a small seesaw-like lever holding two tiny buckets — when one bucket fills with a precise amount of rain (typically 0.2mm), it tips over, generating an electronic pulse and emptying. A weighing rain gauge measures the increasing weight of accumulated rainfall. An optical or laser rain gauge measures the disturbance of a light beam by falling raindrops. All convert collected precipitation into a depth measurement in millimetres or inches.
How to read a rain gauge correctly: (1) Place the rain gauge on a level surface in an open area away from buildings, fences, and trees that could block falling rain. (2) The gauge should be mounted with its rim at least 30 centimetres above the ground. (3) After rainfall, look at the water level inside the cylinder at eye level. (4) Read the millimetre or inch markings at the bottom of the meniscus — the curved surface of the water. (5) Record the value, then empty the gauge ready for the next reading. Standard meteorological practice records rainfall at 09:00 each day for the previous 24-hour period.
You can make a simple homemade rain gauge with a few household items. Take a clear cylindrical container with straight sides — a 2-litre plastic bottle works well. Cut off the top third of the bottle and invert it into the bottom section to act as a funnel that prevents evaporation. Mark a centimetre or millimetre scale up the side using a permanent marker and a ruler. Place the gauge outside on a flat surface, well away from walls, trees, and overhangs. Empty after each measurement. While not as accurate as a professional rain gauge, a homemade version can give useful approximate readings for garden or school projects.
The standard rain gauge is the simplest and oldest type — a cylindrical collector with a funnel that channels water into a narrow inner measuring tube. Because the inner tube is narrower than the outer cylinder, small amounts of rainfall produce a measurable water depth. A common standard design uses an 8-inch (203mm) collection diameter. The user reads the rainfall manually against a calibrated scale, typically once per day at a fixed time.
A tipping bucket rain gauge is the most common automatic type used in modern weather stations. Inside the funnel, a small seesaw-style lever holds two miniature buckets. When one bucket collects a fixed amount of rain (commonly 0.2mm), its weight tips the lever, emptying that bucket and bringing the other bucket into position. Each tip generates an electronic pulse counted by a data logger, allowing automatic, continuous rainfall measurement and rain rate calculation.
A weighing rain gauge measures the increase in weight of accumulated precipitation in a collection container. These gauges are highly accurate and can also measure snow, hail, and other forms of solid precipitation, which tipping bucket gauges cannot measure correctly. Weighing rain gauges are used in research stations and at official meteorological observatories.
An optical or laser rain gauge has no moving parts and no collection container. It measures rainfall by detecting how falling raindrops disrupt a beam of infrared light or laser between a transmitter and receiver. From the pattern of disruption, the gauge calculates rainfall rate. Optical rain gauges are increasingly used at airports and on ships because they are reliable, low-maintenance, and can also detect snow and hail.
Acrylic rain gauges are clear plastic versions of the standard manual gauge, popular for home and garden use. Wireless rain gauges combine a tipping bucket sensor with a wireless transmitter that sends data to an indoor display unit, allowing rainfall to be monitored from inside. Many wireless models also log historical data and connect to home weather networks.
Rainfall is classified by intensity based on the rate of accumulation in millimetres per hour:
What is heavy rain? Meteorologically, heavy rainfall is rain falling at more than 7.6 mm per hour. Daily heavy rain warnings are typically issued when totals are forecast to exceed 50mm in 24 hours, while exceptional events exceed 100mm in 24 hours. The wettest places on Earth — Cherrapunji, India and Mount Waialeale, Hawaii — average over 11,000mm (430 inches) of rainfall per year.
How much rain today for your location is shown live at the top of this page. The reading is calculated as the sum of all hourly rainfall since midnight local time. Daily rainfall is the standard measurement period in meteorology — official rainfall records are maintained as 24-hour totals, traditionally measured from 09:00 to 09:00 the next day. The 24-hour rainfall chart on this page shows the actual hourly distribution of rain through the day, while the rain forecast section predicts expected rainfall for the next 24 hours.
Rainfall is measured in two main units worldwide: millimetres (mm) used by the metric system in most countries, and inches (in) used in the United States. To convert: 25.4 mm = 1 inch. So 50mm of rain ≈ 1.97 inches, and 100mm ≈ 3.94 inches. This page displays rainfall in both mm and inches simultaneously, with a built-in converter for any value. A measurement of "1mm of rain" means that if all the rain that fell stayed in place without runoff, evaporation, or soaking in, it would form a layer 1mm deep over the entire area.
The rain gauge has a long history. Ancient Greek philosophers including Theaetetus made systematic rain measurements around 400 BC. In India, the Arthashastra (around 400 BC) described the use of rain gauges for agricultural planning. The first standardised national rain gauge network was established in Korea in 1441 under King Sejong the Great, using a bronze rain gauge called the cheugugi mounted on stone pedestals at observation stations across the country — predating Western standardisation by nearly 200 years. In Europe, Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke designed early tipping bucket rain gauges in 1662. The modern standardised cylindrical design dates from the 19th century.
Rain gauge data is essential across many fields. In agriculture, rainfall measurements help farmers plan irrigation, sowing, and harvesting. In hydrology, rainfall data feeds water resource models for reservoirs, rivers, and groundwater management. In flood forecasting, real-time rain gauge networks combined with radar provide early warning of dangerous rainfall accumulations. In civil engineering, rainfall records inform the design of drainage systems, sewers, and flood defences. In climate science, long-term rainfall records reveal changing precipitation patterns associated with climate change. Even at home, garden rain gauges help with irrigation planning and water-saving.