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DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING PRECIPITATION 1. Introduction Measuring precipitation at high elevcltions in a winter environment is a complex, inexact, expensive, and often discouraging endeavor.. This does not come as a surprise to most of you as it is a~ accepted part of your chosen profession. Prior to this session of the Western Snow Conference, 634 items have been published in the conference proceedi ngs. Well over 100 of these papers have deal t with the measurement of snow, with te!chniques ranging from sample~r tubes to microwaves. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the work done in support of the Bureau of Reclamation's Project Skywater to improve precipitation measurement and data collection, with emphasis on precipitation as snowfall. II. A Need for Improvement J. C. Kurtyka 1/ reported in 1953 that liAs a climatological tool, the rain gage maintains a respected position; however, for engineering purposes, such as runoff forecasting, and for radar and cloud physics studies, the present day rain gage is inadequate." This conclusion was supported by D. Warner 2/ at the 1966 Western Snow Conference in Seattle. He stated that-II Improvements are still needed, and research and experimentation goes on continually to bring these improvements about. Recent developments in recording type rain gages are encouraging.1I Six years later, Eugene L. Peck '}j said that "Snowfall is the form of precipitation that is most difficult to measure * * *. The growing need for reliable and consistent measurement of snowfall calls for a change from the continuation of the limited research efforts to improve the present usefulness of present day precipitation gages." The use of this admittedly inexact technology is of major importance in weather modification research. Precipitation data are used for real-time monitoring to aid in project management and control, climatological information, and evaluation of effects. High resolu- tion in time, space, and quantity is needed to detect relatively small changes in a very "noisy" natural background. Therefore, supporting the development of improved techniques for measuring precipitation is a high priority in Project Skywater. The foll owi ng paragraphs descri be somE~ of the work done as a part of Project Skywater to improve precipitation measurements and the collection of data.