As the 2006 crop season is well underway across the region it is time to remind crop producers, crop advisors, and others about web-based tools that can be used for timing irrigation, herbicide or pesticide applications or for diagnostic and assessment purposes when it comes to crop development, crop pests, or crop injury.

Many details from the National Weather Service data streams of hourly observations and forecast updates can now be found on various web services. Much of the forecast information is now derived from five kilometer grid analysis and is therefore much more locally specific. These services are described below:

Minnesota Climatology Working Group (www.climate.umn.edu): This site hosts a variety of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual climate data, along with the weekly newsletter "Minnesota WeatherTalk" and other information from University Research and Outreach Centers as well as the National Weather Service. The “Retrieve Historical Data” section allows users to access real-time hourly observations from the National Weather Service automated station network. Variables that can be mapped and displayed include air temperature, dewpoint, air pressure, visibility, windchill, and heat index, as well as a graphical depiction of wind direction and wind speed. Hourly data since the middle of the 1996 crop season are available and the data are kept updated to near real-time values.

National Weather Service forecasts and real-time radar and satellite displays (www.nws.noaa.gov). This site includes two especially good features: severe weather watch and warning information and delineation; and graphical displays of hour by hour forecasts out to 7 days. Such information can be accessed by simply clicking on the map displayed.

Precision county by county agricultural forecasts (hosted by the University of Kentucky) can be found at: wwwagwx.ca.uky.edu/PrecisionForecast.html Though this site duplicates much of the information contained on the NOAA site, it is specifically formatted and tailored to the needs of agriculture and offers a county level of detail for each weather element. A written narrative forecast as well as detailed tabular and graphical data are strong points of this web site. Some of the elements forecasted include leaf wetness, livestock heat stress, potential evaptranspiration, crop spraying conditions, and drying conditions, among other elements.

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