An important factor that can contribute to avoiding water nuisance, such as pluvial flooding, is improving our understanding of rainfall in urban areas. At present, reliable information about rainfall intensities in cities is scarce or lacking because official weather stations are located in rural areas. It is rather difficult to get reliable rainfall measurements in urban areas. Buildings close to the measurement device can ‘shelter’ the device from wind; a cluster of high buildings can have a large influence on the wind pattern, and so influencing the rain caught by the measuring devise. Yet, the climate in urban areas and rural areas can be very different. This means that available sources of weather information like weather stations in rural areas are not representative of rainfall dynamics in urban environments.

So, how can we accurately monitor rainfall in urban areas?  How can citizens contribute to improving rainfall monitoring? Lotte de Vos will explain this in the next video.