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WeatherWeather Resources
Q. Since I have begun gardening in New Mexico, I am increasingly aware of how critical the weather is to my success. That seems to be an obvious thing, but as I garden, I want more information about the weather. Where can I get good information regarding weather other than on the television?
A. While it is obvious that weather is critical to gardening, many gardeners like you become more and more interested in the weather as well. The weather and climate influence our gardens in many ways, some are obvious but other influences of the weather are less obvious. The soils in which we grow our plants are the product of not only the rocks (from which the soil is made) but also the weather and climate that are responsible for converting rock to soil.
Local weather reports on television and newspapers are valuable sources of information. National weather reports available on cable and satellite television are also helpful. The internet provides several sources. New Mexico State University's climate center web site is http://weather.nmsu.edu, and the National Weather Service has an excellent websites (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/abq/ for northern New Mexico and http://www.srh.noaa.gov/epz/ in the south). I often use these web sites and several commercial and non-governmental web sites. Rather than list some and exclude others, I will suggest you use a web search engine with the keyword "weather" to find sites useful for you.
There is also another possibility! You can be part of the process of gathering the weather data that others see on the news and the web sites. New Mexico State University has joined with Colorado State University and other state universities in a project called CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network). CoCoRaHS is recruiting volunteers to measure precipitation across New Mexico (and surrounding states). They prefer volunteers who will commit to collecting and reporting precipitation data for at least a year. Many volunteers have continued for more than one year.
The objectives of CoCoRaHS are 1) to provide accurate high-quality precipitation data for our many end users on a timely basis, 2) increasing the density of precipitation data available throughout the country by encouraging volunteer weather observing, 3) encouraging citizens to have fun participating in meteorological science and heightening their awareness about weather, and 4) providing enrichment activities in water and weather resources for teachers, educators and the community at large, to name a few.
If you are interested in participating in this project to collect and report weather data in New Mexico and improve knowledge of precipitation distribution, you can contact Dr. Deborah Bathke, NMSU Assistant State Climatologist (505-646-6327, or e-mail djbathke@nmsu.edu). You can also visit the CoCoRaHS web site http://www.cocorahs.org. A benefit of volunteering is that volunteers receive a complementary rain gauge. Please consider helping us gather the valuable weather information that you mentioned.
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