Downey, Donald A.

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Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 19 Article 71965Specialized Weather Information for ArkansasAgricultureDonald A. DowneyNational Weather ServiceFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Agricultural Science Commons, and the Meteorology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academyof Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu, ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationDowney, Donald A. (1965) "Specialized Weather Information for Arkansas Agriculture," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science:Vol. 19 , Article 7.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/728Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol. 19, 1965SPECIALIZED WEATHER INFORMATIONFOR ARKANSAS AGRICULTUREDonald A. Downey 1The advent of meteorology into the field of agriculture has been ofairly recent occurrence in the United States and even more recent inArkansas. In the past, the link between agriculture and weather, ifndeed there has been a link, has been between the climatologist andgriculturist, rather than between the meteorologist and the agriculturist.iven more discouraging was the tendency for the agriculturist to be hiswn meteorologist or climatologist, and to ascribe to so-called abnormalweather conditions aberrations in his data which may or may not have>een weather induced. An even more serious shortcoming was themission of such weather information entirely. This was perhaps in-vitable, since the meteorologist or climatologist was almost alwayshysically located at an airport station and not at the University orxperiment Station. This lack of communication is now being brokenown by the assignment of Weather Bureau Agricultural Meteorologistso Universities and Agricultural Experiment Stations.In the Weather Bureau itself, the fields of climatology and agri-uitural meteorology have unique, but often overlapping, interests inelation to their potential contributions to the field of agriculture. Longnd sometimes heated discussions, on more or less a philosophical)lane, have taken place between agricultural meteorologists and clima-ologists to try to define somewhat precisely the effective role of eachn what they may contribute to agricultural technology. These discus-ons often generate more heat than light, but there has come to passn understanding that each has a role to play in a study of the corn-ex interrelationships that are present in a climatological-plant com-lex or a meteorological-plant complex. Ithink that climatology playsie lead in the broad definition or description of the environmentallaracteristics peculiar to certain plant or animal species, whereas thegricultural meteorologist will have to more specifically describe theseimatic characteristics in meteorological terms as they apply to aarticular crop or animal.[With increasing technology, the proliferation of specialists in all;lds becomes almost overpowering, and the fields relating to weatherid agriculture are no less prolific, ranging from bio-climatologists too-meteorologists to mico-climatologists to micro-meteorologists ad in-litum. With or without a specific definition of their roles, each hasmething to contribute to understanding some aspects of crop-weatherL After these few introductory remarks, almost imperceptibly defin-the limits within which we might work, I should describe briefly'Advisory Agricultural Meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau, Keiser,Arkansas28Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 196529Specialized Weather Informationthe organization of the Mid South Weather Project as it concerns Ar-kansasHistorically, the most voracious user of specialized weather infor-ation has been the aviation industry. But in 1958, farm organiza-ons and a few Congressmen sensed the value that such a specializedeather service might have for agriculture and funds were raised to>egin a pilot weather project at Stoneville, Mississippi. After threeears, during which time the service was well received by agriculturalterests in Mississippi, the service was expanded to include NE Louisi-na, West Tennessee, the Missouri Bootheel and eastern and southernrkansas. In January, 1963, the service was further expanded to in-ude the entire state of Arkansas.IThe staffing of the Arkansas project consists of one individual,sically, the service has four phases:II) Specialized weather forecasts originate in a central forecastnter at Memphis. In addition to the usual terminology in the bodythe forecast, an agricultural advisory is added, which spells out therecast in more precise terms, and gives drying conditions, percentnshine, amounts and coverage of precipitation, wind direction andeed, dew intensity and duration and dew-point ranges.12) Special weather reporting stations are added to the weathertwork during the growing season to give additional observationsair temperature, rainfall and soil temperature.13) A special weather teletype network is available for radio andstations at a nominal monthly charge. Forecasts, climatologicalmmaries, radar reports, agricultural weather advisories, soil tempera-'e forecasts, harvest weather forecasts, hourly weather and otherms pertinent to agricultural interests are immediately available tosse subscribers for dissemination to users in the area. This type ofass dissemination of weather information is a vital link in the servcetween the meteorologist and the user ... in this case the cottonanter, the soybean and rice producer, the orchardist, the vegetableoducer, the broiler and cattle industry.t4) The initiation of technical studies to investigate plant-weatherationships. Of necessity, these studies must primarily be slantedvard attempting to solve, or partially solve, practical economic prob-ns that beset the individual grower. They are essentially applied,her than basic in nature.iDuring its short and often rigorous life, a plant is constantly ex-sed to a changing environment. The change is as much induced by;growth of the plant itself as by day to day changes in meteorologicaliditions. The emerging seedling, unprotected from direct insolationm the sun, is exposed to a harsh combination of weather elements,avy rainshowers may pack and seal the soil so that the seedling hasficulty emerging initially. Surface soil temperatures on a clear warmy may rise to 125° F. and fall to 50° F. during the night. Severe 29Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/730Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedingsweather, common during the spring months, may spawn hail and highwinds to further damage the emerging seedling. As the season prog-resses and the plant grows, it is subject to the same violent weathertypes, but the growth also results in modifications in temperature andlumidity within the plant canopy itself. The effective radiating surfaceshifts from the soil surface to the top of the canopy. Shading withinthe canopy, plus proximity to a moist soil surface, willcause the maxi-mum temperature to shift from the soil surface to the top of the canopy,with an actual temperature "inversion" resulting within the canopy."his resulting stable condition may have important implications in suchdiverse events as the resultant dispersion of an insecticide spray or thedissemination and transport of spores within the plant canopy. Dif-erences of as much as 20° F. were noted in 1963 at the six-inch level>etween irrigated and non-irrigated soybeans. Humidity differencesn excess of 40% were noted between the same levels on a hot, sunnyday in August. It is difficult to imagine that such divergent temperatureand humidity regimes do not effect quite profound changes in insect>ehavior or micro-organism responses, and, indeed, physiological re-ponses in the plant itself.{The contributions which meteorology can make to agricultural tech-ology are broadly twofold:1) The operational implications of the short range forecasts aref paramount importance. This is where the Agricultural forecaster atMemphis comes into the picture. The day-to-day decisions on spray-ng, the application of defoliants or planning haying operations can)e seasoned and weighed with the forecast in mind. I should sayiere, the "latest" forecast in mind. Nothing is as perishable as aorecast, and if the planter uses the 4 a.m. forecast instead of thevailable 10 a.m. forecast, he is discarding the latest thinking on theurrent weather situation, and biasing his decision on obsolete infor-mation. The responsibility for the improvement of the short-range andle five-day forecast is in the realm of the dynamic and synoptic meteor-logist and is out of our hands. Researchers at the General Circulationsaboratory at Washington are attacking this problem using computernd mathematical techniques.2) The second realm, and the one which is often less appreciated,s that in which the agricultural meteorologist tries to detect the majorontributor, in a series of complex weather-plant relationships, to aertain end result in the plant. These first clues may well result in anmpirical solution and may be concerned with isolating parameterswhich are not controlling the end result. He can then focus his atten-on on the elements most pertinent to the problem at hand. Fieldtudies on cotton, soybeans and rice have been, or willbe initiatednd it is anticipated that these studies will result in practical applica-ons.The phrase "team effort" or "team approach" possibly has beenover-worked recently, but that is essentially what is needed to partially30Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 196531Specialised Weather InformationIve, or at least to gain some insight into the complex factors whichto make up the end product of yield or quality that is desired. Sucheffort has been a long time coming in really bringing agricultured weather together, but at least now some halting steps havesn taken in that direction.31Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/7

Specialized Weather Information for Arkansas Agriculture

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 19 Article 7 1965 Specialized Weather Information for Arkansas Agriculture Donald A. Downey National Weather Service Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Agricultural Science Commons, and the Meteorology Commons Recommended Citation Downey, Donald A. (1965) "Specialized Weather Information for Arkansas Agriculture," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 19 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/7 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. 28Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol. 19, 1965SPECIALIZED WEATHER INFORMATIONFOR ARKANSAS AGRICULTUREDonald A. Downey 1The advent of meteorology into the field of agriculture has been ofairly recent occurrence in the United States and even more recent inArkansas. In the past, the link between agriculture and weather, ifndeed there has been a link, has been between the climatologist andgriculturist, rather than between the meteorologist and the agriculturist.iven more discouraging was the tendency for the agriculturist to be hiswn meteorologist or climatologist, and to ascribe to so-called abnormalweather conditions aberrations in his data which may or may not have>een weather induced. An even more serious shortcoming was themission of such weather information entirely. This was perhaps in-vitable, since the meteorologist or climatologist was almost alwayshysically located at an airport station and not at the University orxperiment Station. This lack of communication is now being brokenown by the assignment of Weather Bureau Agricultural Meteorologistso Universities and Agricultural Experiment Stations.In the Weather Bureau itself, the fields of climatology and agri-uitural meteorology have unique, but often overlapping, interests inelation to their potential contributions to the field of agriculture. Longnd sometimes heated discussions, on more or less a philosophical)lane, have taken place between agricultural meteorologists and clima-ologists to try to define somewhat precisely the effective role of eachn what they may contribute to agricultural technology. These discus-ons often generate more heat than light, but there has come to passn understanding that each has a role to play in a study of the corn-ex interrelationships that are present in a climatological-plant com-lex or a meteorological-plant complex. Ithink that climatology playsie lead in the broad definition or description of the environmentallaracteristics peculiar to certain plant or animal species, whereas thegricultural meteorologist will have to more specifically describe theseimatic characteristics in meteorological terms as they apply to aarticular crop or animal.[Withincreasing technology, the proliferation of specialists in all;lds becomes almost overpowering, and the fields relating to weatherid agriculture are no less prolific, ranging from bio-climatologists too-meteorologists to mico-climatologists to micro-meteorologists ad in-litum. With or without a specific definition of their roles, each hasmething to contribute to understanding some aspects of crop-weatherL After these few introductory remarks, almost imperceptibly defin-the limits within which we might work, I should describe briefly'Advisory Agricultural Meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau, Keiser,Arkansas28Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 196529Specialized Weather Informationthe organization of the Mid South Weather Project as it concerns Ar-kansasHistorically, the most voracious user of specialized weather infor-ation has been the aviation industry. But in 1958, farm organiza-ons and a few Congressmen sensed the value that such a specializedeather service might have for agriculture and funds were raised to>egin a pilot weather project at Stoneville, Mississippi. After threeears, during which time the service was well received by agriculturalterests in Mississippi, the service was expanded to include NE Louisi-na, West Tennessee, the Missouri Bootheel and eastern and southernrkansas. In January, 1963, the service was further expanded to in-ude the entire state of Arkansas.IThe staffing of the Arkansas project consists of one individual,sically, the service has four phases:II)Specialized weather forecasts originate in a central forecastnter at Memphis. In addition to the usual terminology in the bodythe forecast, an agricultural advisory is added, which spells out therecast in more precise terms, and gives drying conditions, percentnshine, amounts and coverage of precipitation, wind direction andeed, dew intensity and duration and dew-point ranges.12) Special weather reporting stations are added to the weathertwork during the growing season to give additional observationsair temperature, rainfall and soil temperature.13)A special weather teletype network is available for radio andstations at a nominal monthly charge. Forecasts, climatologicalmmaries, radar reports, agricultural weather advisories, soil tempera-'e forecasts, harvest weather forecasts, hourly weather and otherms pertinent to agricultural interests are immediately available tosse subscribers for dissemination to users in the area. This type ofass dissemination of weather information is a vital link in the servcetween the meteorologist and the user ... in this case the cottonanter, the soybean and rice producer, the orchardist, the vegetableoducer, the broiler and cattle industry.t4) Theinitiation of technical studies to investigate plant-weatherationships. Of necessity, these studies must primarily be slantedvard attempting to solve, or partially solve, practical economic prob-ns that beset the individual grower. They are essentially applied,her than basic in nature.iDuring its short and often rigorous life, a plant is constantly ex-sed to a changing environment. The change is as much induced by;growth of the plant itself as by day to day changes in meteorologicaliditions. The emerging seedling, unprotected from direct insolationm the sun, is exposed to a harsh combination of weather elements,avy rainshowers may pack and seal the soil so that the seedling hasficulty emerging initially. Surface soil temperatures on a clear warmy may rise to 125° F. and fall to 50° F. during the night. Severe 29Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/730Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedingsweather, common during the spring months, may spawn hail and highwinds to further damage the emerging seedling. As the season prog-resses and the plant grows, it is subject to the same violent weathertypes, but the growth also results in modifications in temperature andlumidity within the plant canopy itself. The effective radiating surfaceshifts from the soil surface to the top of the canopy. Shading withinthe canopy, plus proximity to a moist soil surface, willcause the maxi-mum temperature to shift from the soil surface to the top of the canopy,with an actual temperature "inversion" resulting within the canopy."his resulting stable condition may have important implications in suchdiverse events as the resultant dispersion of an insecticide spray or thedissemination and transport of spores within the plant canopy. Dif-erences of as much as 20° F. were noted in 1963 at the six-inch level>etween irrigated and non-irrigated soybeans. Humidity differencesn excess of 40% were noted between the same levels on a hot, sunnyday in August. It is difficult to imagine that such divergent temperatureand humidity regimes do not effect quite profound changes in insect>ehavior or micro-organism responses, and, indeed, physiological re-ponses in the plant itself.{The contributions which meteorology can make to agricultural tech-ology are broadly twofold:1) The operational implications of the short range forecasts aref paramount importance. This is where the Agricultural forecaster atMemphis comes into the picture. The day-to-day decisions on spray-ng, the application of defoliants or planning haying operations can)e seasoned and weighed with the forecast in mind. I should sayiere, the "latest" forecast in mind. Nothing is as perishable as aorecast, and if the planter uses the 4 a.m. forecast instead of thevailable 10 a.m. forecast, he is discarding the latest thinking on theurrent weather situation, and biasing his decision on obsolete infor-mation. The responsibility for the improvement of the short-range andle five-day forecast is in the realm of the dynamic and synoptic meteor-logist and is out of our hands. Researchers at the General Circulationsaboratory at Washington are attacking this problem using computernd mathematical techniques.2) The second realm, and the one which is often less appreciated,s that in which the agricultural meteorologist tries to detect the majorontributor, in a series of complex weather-plant relationships, to aertain end result in the plant. These first clues may well result in anmpirical solution and may be concerned with isolating parameterswhich are not controlling the end result. He can then focus his atten-on on the elements most pertinent to the problem at hand. Fieldtudies on cotton, soybeans and rice have been, or willbe initiatednd it is anticipated that these studies will result in practical applica-ons.The phrase "team effort" or "team approach" possibly has beenover-worked recently, but that is essentially what is needed to partially30Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 196531Specialised Weather InformationIve, or at least to gain some insight into the complex factors whichto make up the end product of yield or quality that is desired. Sucheffort has been a long time coming in really bringing agricultured weather together, but at least now some halting steps havesn taken in that direction.31Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 19 [1965], Art. 7https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol19/iss1/7

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