---
title: "The Urban Rain Gage Node | Technical Reference"
slug: "the-urban-rain-gage-node"
description: "Learn about the urban rain gage node, used to provide the rain entering an urban subcatchment node in your system. "
tags: ["1D urban modelling"]
updated: 2022-08-26T13:49:27Z
published: 2022-08-26T13:49:27Z
canonical: "help.floodmodeller.com/the-urban-rain-gage-node"
stale: true
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.floodmodeller.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The  Urban Rain Gage Node

**Rain Gage** nodes are used to provide the rain entering an [Urban Subcatchment Node](/v1/docs/the-urban-subcatchement-node) in your urban system, which is then routed to an outlet and ultimately becomes the [Urban Inflow](/v1/docs/1d-urban-flow).

A Rain Gage node can be located anywhere on the map - you will specify in your Subcatchment nodes which Rain Gage should be used.

![UrbanNodesimagesurbanraingage.PNG](https://cdn.document360.io/5074bc26-a9ef-4bf4-b1de-a5c6ce628aca/Images/Documentation/UrbanNodesimagesurbanraingage.PNG)

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#### Rain Gage label/name

The Rain Gage node name by default will be provided by parameters setup in the [Urban Model Defaults](/docs/Urban_Model_Defaults.htm) menu.

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#### Coordinates

The x and y coordinates of the Rain Gage node are shown in these fields. These values are automatically populated based on the node location on the map. A Rain Gage node can be located anywhere on the map - you will specify in your Subcatchment nodes which Rain Gage should be used.

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#### Optional descriptors

**Description**

This field allows for an optional text description. The field will be blank by default.

            **Tag**            

This field allows for an optional text tag, to allow you to categorise units. The field will be blank by default.

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#### Rainfall format

**Rain Format**

A dropdown provides options to select the type of rainfall data from INTENSITY, VOLUME or CUMULATIVE.

**Time Interval**  
  

The **Time Interval** of the rain gage data must be provided. A dropdown provides a variety of time intervals to select from.

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#### Snow Catch Factor

A value can be provided to take snow catch into consideration. This factor will be set to 1.0 by default. We refer the user to the [EPA Manual](https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-02/documents/epaswmm5_1_manual_master_8-2-15.pdf) for further details

     

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#### Defining a data source in a Rain Gage node

A **Data Source** must be selected from the dropdown and two options are provided for this.

            

The **Timeseries** option requires a **Series Name** to be specified in the **Timeseries** fields below.

            

The **File** options requires additional parameters to be provided in the **Data File** fields below. We refer the user to the [EPA Manual](https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-02/documents/epaswmm5_1_manual_master_8-2-15.pdf) for further details.