Anyone who has ever lived in Kansas knows that the weather can change quickly, a fact that Chip Redmond thinks makes the Kansas Mesonet especially valuable in the state.
Redmond, a meteorologist and manager of the Kansas Mesonet, said the program is working to continue spreading its multiple resources across Kansas for citizens. He noted that 75 Mesonet stations are collecting weather information in Kansas and providing it in real time to the public via the Kansas Mesonet website.
“The main focus of the Kansas Mesonet is to collect weather data and disseminate that information to people in a way they can easily use it,” Redmond said.
Mesonet is a term that refers to a network of regional weather stations. In Kansas, one goal is to make sure no part of the state is underrepresented, especially due to the quick and varied weather within short distances.
The Mesonet weather stations collect soil temperature, soil moisture, precipitation, temperature and humidity, pressure, wind speed and wind direction.
The weather stations also collect data on freeze monitoring and crop thresholds of temperature. If farmers are concerned about cold weather injury, they are able to identify, “how long we were below those thresholds at which locations,” according to Redmond.
The Freeze Monitor is a handy tool to check conditions in your area. Have freezing conditions been recorded? How does it compare to average? How many hours below freezing was your area?
Trivia question – when was the earliest first freeze on record in Kansas? Sept. 3, 1974, when many stations dropped below freezing. This year, the first freeze is actually running a few weeks to days behind schedule.
The Freeze Monitor tool displays the coldest temperatures observed across Kansas during the previous 24 hours. It answers the frequent question: How cold did it get last night? It also tracks the first fall freeze date for each station for comparison to local climatology in a table.
A new addition for 2021 is the ability to track the duration of days since the last freeze or respective threshold. This is great for the first freeze and determining the length of the growing season. You can find “days since” using this link: http://mesonet.k-state.edu/airtemp/min/hoursbelow/#tab=table-tab&mtIndex=6. Much of the state hasn’t seen a freeze since late April or early May in the state of Kansas – a growing season between 153-175 days for 2021.
The Freeze Monitor is updated in the spring, as a new growing season arrives, to show the spring freeze climatology.
Soil temperature is another important consideration for farmers when they are planning to plant the next crop. There are weekly averages, daily maximums and minimums, and you can view statewide soil temperature variance in real-time at (depths of) 2 inches and 4 inches.
The weather stations also collect information on soil radiation which is a key for agriculture and is needed by irrigators to calculate evapo-transpiration.
Redmond believes that collecting soil moisture and soil radiation allows for a perspective to be formed from the soil up. “All of those tools update on either a 5 or 15-minute timeframe depending on how much processing has to happen in the background,” said Redmond, adding that the continual updates allow for accurate and up-to-date information for farmers.
More information on the Kansas Mesonet and access to state weather information is available at https://mesonet.k-state.edu.
Stacy Campbell is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Cottonwood Extension District. Email him at scampbel@ksu.edu or call the Hays office, 785-628-9430.
