When we are heading out on a long drive, planning an outdoor party, or planning to go for a walk outside, we like to know whether it will rain, when, and how much. However, in many situations, it is important to know whether it rained in the past, when, and how much. Farmers, for example, depend on rain for their crops. If it does not rain the right amount and a drought is expected, they must choose another plant variety to grow or suffer crop failure. Cities rely on rain collected in reservoirs for their yearly supply of water for showering, drinking, watering plants, and other activities. If it does not rain enough, these activities must be restricted. If it rains too much, or at the wrong time, a city may flood, causing long-term damage.  Environmental researchers are interested in precipitation data to track trends in the climate on the local and global levels.

There are several ways of measuring precipitation. Cylinders may be placed in different areas, and as it rains or snows, this precipitation falls into the cylinders. A person must then drive around to each cylinder and record the current measurement. This may cause problems as the cylinders may overflow. In addition, it is not efficient to travel to every cylinder and this method gives no data on when and how quickly the precipitation fell.

A much more accurate method of determining how much precipitation has fallen in any area is with a rain gauge scale. A bucket is placed on the electronic scale, and the rain gauge scale measures the total amount of water in the bucket. Since electronic rain gauge scales must be kept outdoors, they must be able to survive extreme temperature and precipitation. High-quality scale manufacturers like Arlyn Scales use stainless steel load sensors rather than aluminum load sensors in order to prevent corrosion. In addition, these high-quality rain gauge scales can be built with USB ports to allow for detailed record-keeping, including time data, on a high capacity flash drive.