Rain

Farmer Rain Gamble

What gambles do farmers take? They gamble on when and how much it will rain. They play the odds. If I put down some fertilizer, will it rain enough to move it into the soil? Will rain fall in time for my planted seed to come up? Will the next forecasted rain be enough to incorporate this herbicide?

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Photos: Left, headed wheat east of Chickasha 04/25/18 (A. Sutherland). Right, headed wheat north of Duke 04/27/18 (K. Johnson).

The rain gamble is different for every farmer, for every crop. As we finished out 2017 in Oklahoma, rain was elusive. Continue reading →

A “GOOD” Rain

Pat turned to me and with excitement in his voice and declared, “That was a “GOOD” rain!” Pat raises cattle. He watches his cattle closely to make sure they have what they need to stay happy and healthy.

So what is a “good” rain? For ranchers, like Pat, it means a rain that is timely. The rain needs to fall often enough to keep the grass growing. No rain. No grass. That’s what we had in 2011.

Young girl in puddle on farm

Photo: Chris Peterson Continue reading →

Rain Forecast as Hourly Graph

A couple of common questions we all have are, “When is it going to rain?” and “How much rain will we get?”

There is a tool from the National Weather Service that can give insight into both of those questions. The product is the National Weather Service’s Hourly Weather Forecast Graph. The Hourly Weather Forecast Graph shows forecasts of the chance of rain, amounts over time, and when to expect rain.

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Adding Assurance – Dual Rain Gauges

When rainfall data counts, it’s a shock to go to the Oklahoma Mesonet and find ‘NA,’ ‘Not Available.’ Just like you, all of us at the Mesonet hate missing data too. That is why we are so committed, from our field techs to our website wizards, to collect and confirm all the data we can from the Oklahoma Mesonet system. The Mesonet team works continually to make sure that quality assured data keeps flowing from Mesonet’s 120 sites, every five minutes, every day.

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(Part of the Oklahoma Mesonet Team at the Ron Elliott Mesonet Site Dedication – 09/11/15)

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Best in Years!!! Soil Moisture April 2015

Oklahoma has been treated to above average rainfall this April. A Mesonet Rainfall Map  for last two weeks of April, shows how that rain fell across Oklahoma from April 15th to April 29th. Cheyenne had the highest rainfall, 8.85 inches. The lowest rainfall location was Kenton with 1.10 inches of rain. Map numbers are rainfall amounts collected at Oklahoma Mesonet sites.

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Reporting Rainfall

The offense moves first, seeking to confuse, elude, to cut through the defense. If the defense plans well and plays well, each player is in position to stop the one with the ball. Now the outcome hinges on the basics. All of the planning, practice comes down to executing tackling basics.

Collecting rainfall is basic to monitoring weather. Measuring it accurately is like making that open field tackle. Correct rainfall amounts are valuable data for weather records, for climate records. Done wrong, bad data leads to wrong decisions. Done sloppily, it misleads.

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