Surveying in the rain always seemed to be something that was related to how hungry the surveyor was.
Hungry for working for more and hungry from little work will affect the conditions a person will work under.
I have worked in the rain many times. There were not many natural or man made conditions that the transit and chain would not work in.
with the TS and GPS, the rain does not always deter their use. As long as the instruments have their water repelling orings in place, they work just fine.
An instrument that is not so water ready can be ruined out there.
The best water repellant is a golfer's umbrella.
What always ends the job is lightning. When that arrives, I am gone.
There are places I've worked that 3 rain drops on a brick meant heading to a bar and others that it was tighten the hat and hold on cause it was going to be a long nasty day.
BTW, worked out in the rain Tuesday, got back to the office, took everything apart, opened battery boxes, instrument boxes and backpacks to dry and put in a room and turned on the AC, dry by morning. Cleaned the lens and glass - ready to go.
I keep an Army boonie hat, rain shirt and Lacrose Grange in the truck all year long.
B-)
I had a client that I used to process all of their static data. I knew they were good at picking good sites for GPS, but one day I received a data file that was really chopped up. I plotted it in google earth, and it was wide open, on an overpass over an interstate highway. I called him up, he told me that point should be fine. Then he called back a little later and said he had used an office guy to "babysit" the receiver that day, and when it started to rain he held the umbrella over the receiver/antenna so that it wouldn't get wet, as he was told that it was an expensive piece of gear.
I have worked in the rain a lot. it seems to affect the autolock more than the the actual readings (i.e. autolock doesn't work, probably because it is using an image of the prism to get the center, I think).
The digital level seems to be more affected by the rain, not sure if it is the water on the face of the rod or the water on the glass of the instrument.
When I worked for the government, we would sit in the truck when it rained. The party chief would take a nap in the driver's seat. When he would wake up and ask if it was still raining, the guys in the back would drum their fingers on the metal roof of the truck, so at least it sounded like it was raining. Worked a few times.
Here is the rain so far this morning here at the office:
Temperature is supposed to drop and then it will be snow this afternoon.
