WERA102: Climate Data and Analyses for Applications in Agriculture and Natural Resources

(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)

Status: Inactive/Terminating

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SAES-422 Reports

Annual/Termination Reports:

[09/26/2017] [10/31/2018] [01/02/2020] [11/20/2020]

Date of Annual Report: 09/26/2017

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/11/2017 - 09/15/2017
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2016 - 09/30/2017

Participants

Participants Attachment:

Particpant list for joint meeting Septmember 2017.docx

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes Attachment:

2017 WERA 1022 Meeting Notes.docx

Accomplishments

WERA-102:  Climate Data and Analyses for Applications in Agriculture and Natural Resources Annual Report – Accomplishments October1, 2016 – September 31, 2017 Climate change, drought, and pronounced natural climate variability pose major challenges to agriculture and natural resource management in the western United States. In turn, climate information—historical, real-time and prognostic—is vital for the sustainable management of these resources. The use of climate information is a key component of decision support tools, programs, technologies, and practices that protect and enhance water, soil, and air. Likewise, legislation and policy must incorporate knowledge of climate variability and change if we hope to maintain the stability and long-term viability of agriculture, water, timber and other goods and services in the West. These activities are consistent with efforts to be carried out under the USDA Climate Hub Program. Currently climate data and information are collected by a wide range of federal, state and local agencies, as well as many non-governmental organizations. This information is then stored and distributed in myriad ways. Accessing relevant and reliable climate-related products continues to be a major challenge for the agriculture and natural resource communities. Communication among the various agencies and organizations responsible for this information is becoming increasingly important as a means of leveraging data collection efforts, maintaining monitoring stations, and for disseminating products that best meet stakeholder needs. State Climatologists (SCs) and NOAA Regional Climate Centers (RCCs) fill some of these coordination needs at the state and regional level, and the National Climatic Data Center performs similar—but limited—functions at the national level. However, there is a pressing need in the western US to enhance cooperation and coordination, and to address issues that SCs and RCCs working alone are not well-equipped to tackle. Collaboration and cooperation with the USDA Climate Hub Program can benefit both groups’ efforts to meet their mission statements and goals.  Over the past 30 plus years, the Western Extension Research Activity (WERA)-102committee has served a critical function in ensuring coordination and cooperation among the many and varied groups responsible for producing climate data, climate-related information and products in the West. In times of increasingly tight budgets, the committee is playing an increasing role in ensuring the sustainability and economic viability of the networks and partnerships responsible for creating and distributing these products. Given the significant economic impacts from adverse weather and climate variability and change, it is also prudent that the committee continue to serve as a focal point for ensuring the persistence of strong weather and climate research and applications programs in the West. In short, this committee has served as a forum for coordination, discussion, and prioritization of data collection, research, and applications. It has been a platform to promote the efficient use of limited resources and to enhance our collective ability meet stakeholder needs. The new committee proposal aims to re-invigorate these activities in partnership with the western USDA Climate Hubs located in Corvallis, Oregon; Davis, California; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado:  The Colorado Climate Center is engaged in a number of activities aimed at improving climate data and information for the agricultural sector. These activities range from improved resolution of climate data collection, to improved data accessibility to stakeholders, to additional product development using climate data. The Colorado Climate Center is home to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, which is an organization of over 20,000 citizen scientists around the country. This network focuses on measuring precipitation.  The Climate Center is home to the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network (CoAgMET). CoAgMET focuses on providing robust precipitation measurements and reference evapotranspiration measurements for WISE irrigation scheduling. This network also serves as Colorado’s state mesonet. The Climate Center’s support for these activities is provided by the Colorado State University Agricultural Experiment Station, The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Oregon State’s PRISM Climate Group, as well as some other smaller projects and private donors. Kentucky:  The overall goal of the Ren research group is to understand, assess and predict natural processes and human-caused changes in Earth’s ecosystems and climate by using an integrated systems approach employing a combination of numerical models, remote sensing and GIS, and field observations and measurements. The recent research focus of the lab is therefore driven by the key scientific question: How can we identify climate smart agricultural practices at plot and field scales to regional and watershed scales that are effective at mitigating climate change, protecting soil health, and sustaining land and aquatic systems while also enhancing food production? An integrated system approach is needed to support my research programs, which consists of the following compoents: <ul> <li>Agroecosystem model improvement</li> <li>Multi-source data collection and analysis</li> <li>Model input data development</li> <li>Data-model integration and model simulations for specific research question</li> </ul>   AgriMet is the Bureau of Reclamation's network of automated weather stations for agricultural consumptive water use modeling.  The program encompasses agricultural areas in the Pacific Northwest region (the states of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, western Montana and portions of northern California, Nevada, Utah and western Wyoming) as well as central and eastern Montana in Reclamation’s Great Plains region.  AgriMet provides timely crop water use information to a variety of customers, including federal and state agencies, irrigation districts, agricultural consultants, county extension agents, university researchers, and individual farmers and irrigators.  The information is used to help irrigators apply the right amount of water to their crops at the right time.  Potential program benefits include conservation of water and power resources, improved agricultural production, reductions in soil erosion, and improvements in surface and ground water quality.  The AgriMet program consists of the following components: <ul> <li>In the Pacific Northwest Region: A network of 116 automated weather stations, 11 stations operated by the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, and over 100 operated by other state entities that provide the data required for crop water use modeling.</li> <li>In the Great Plains Region: A network of 21 automated weather stations.</li> <li>A cell phone modem based collection and downlink system, shared with the Hydromet program.</li> <li>A set of computer programs for data quality control and crop consumptive water use modeling.</li> <li>An information dissemination system, including a home page on the World Wide Web and publication in local agricultural newspapers.</li> </ul> Primary AgriMet sponsorship continues to be coordinated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.  Additional sponsorships and cooperating users include Bonneville Power Administration, other public and private electric utilities, irrigation districts, state land grant universities, Cooperative Extension Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Agricultural Research Service, and other state and local agricultural and water resource organizations.  Operation and maintenance costs are cost-shared through sponsorship agreements with participating entities.   Objective 1.  Collaborate with federal agency climate hubs and centers to highlight their unique roles and leverage limited resources for research activities related to agriculture and resource management in the western U.S. Colorado: <ul> <li>There are 74 active CoAgMET stations across the state of Colorado. All stations report hourly and daily data, 46 of these stations report data at 5-minute frequency. All these stations are equipped to measure the weather variables for calculating reference evapotranspiration, and aid in smart irrigation scheduling.</li> <li>CoAgMET data are ingested into MADIS, and are accessed by the National Weather Service.</li> <li>Calibration and maintenance of CoAgMET stations is performed at least once yearly for each active station. Remedial maintenance is provided as needed.</li> <li>The CoAgMET website (coagmet.colostate.edu) is currently undergoing a major user interface overhaul. This includes a mapping system for daily, hourly, and five minute data, and improves the accessibility of data.</li> <li>The CoCoRaHS network boasts over 12,000 precipitation reports in the United States on a daily basis. Precipitation reports also come from Canada and the Bahamas.</li> <li>CoCoRaHS and CoAgMET data are included in Oregon State’s PRISM climate mapping tool.</li> <li>CoCoRaHS data are accessed by the National Weather Service, other meteorologists and hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities, and many other organizations.</li> <li>CoCoRaHS has recently expanded operations to include soil moisture monitoring and condition monitoring.</li> </ul>   AgriMet:  <ul> <li>Calibration and maintenance of sensors was performed at AgriMet stations during the spring in preparation for the growing season.</li> <li>Remedial maintenance visits were made as needed to weather stations in order to maintain operational status and data quality standards.</li> <li>The Metric ET Remote Sensing model utilizes AgriMet data as “ground truths” for calibration of the model. Data collection methods and computations are done in conjunction with Dr. Rick Allen, University of Idaho, Kimberly (developer of Metric) to optimize data accuracy.</li> <li>Reclamation continues to cooperate with the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory to transfer information from eleven existing stations to Reclamation’s computer system for use in crop water modeling.</li> <li>Reclamation injests data from over 60 weather stations managed by Utah Climate Center, Nevada Desert Research Institute and Colorado Climate Center.</li> <li>Enhancements continue to be made to Reclamation’s AgriMet Home Page on the World Wide Web to improve access to weather and crop water use information.</li> <li>Near-real time weather data from AgriMet stations continue to be incorporated into several other networks to improve the delivery of timely weather data to a variety of users: the Mesowest Network (sponsored by the University of Utah), the National Weather Service in Missoula, MT (Current surface observations in the Pacific Northwest), USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board, Oregon State University’s Integrated Plant Protection Center, Oregon State University’s Irrigation Water Management Online Program, AWIS Weather Services, Inc., and Irrisoft’s Weather Reach irrigation water management system.</li> <li>Reclamation is participating in the Committee for Integrated Observing Systems (CIOS), an initiative by the Federal Government to integrate numerous weather networks.</li> </ul>   Objective 2.  Evaluate monitoring network capabilities to facilitate regional comparison of data to address critical issues in agriculture and natural resources management. Colorado: <ul> <li>Subseasonal to seasonal forecasting is the most commonly-voiced stakeholder need in the agricultural sector. Dr. Becky Bolinger of Colorado State University is leveraging existing seasonal forecasting resources such as the Climate Prediction Center and North American Multi-Model Ensemble to produce probabilistic seasonal forecasts for the five state region of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.</li> <li>Station-based evaporative demand data are not available everywhere, but modeled evaporative demand is available nationwide. Peter Goble is working on a ground validation study which compares measured and modeled evaporative demand over irrigated and unirrigated landscapes. The implication of favorable comparisons would be allowing producers to use modeled data directly for irrigation scheduling.</li> </ul> AgriMet: <ul> <li>The AgriMet program is currently providing technical assistance and data for the WWCRA climate change project affiliated with numerous regions and government entities.</li> </ul>   Objective 3.  Promote access to, use of, and further development of monitoring networks and associated value added products to meet the needs of agriculture and resource management in the West. Colorado: <ul> <li>The Colorado Climate Center website (climate.colostate.edu) has been redeveloped to promote ease of data access, climate education, and drought information. The user interface is also much friendlier.</li> <li>The Colorado Climate Center produces weekly regional drought updates. These updates include communication with the United States Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.</li> <li>The Colorado Climate Center holds monthly drought update webinars in which the staff engages directly with extension personnel and producers around Colorado. The Climate Center gives an update on meteorologic drought conditions, and the producers report their impacts.</li> <li>Inclusion of condition monitoring in CoCoRaHS has improved impact-based drought monitoring. Some of these reports are ingested by the National Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Impact Reporter.</li> <li>CoAgMET precipitation and reference evapotranspiration data are used in Colorado State University’s WISE Irrigation scheduling mobile application for producers.</li> <li>The Colorado Climate Center uses in-situ weather station data from networks like CoAgMET and the National Weather Service’s Cooperative Observing (COOP) Network to track trends in climate over time. The Climate Center continues to work with institutions such as the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environment Sciences to understand climate projections, and communicate the associated risks to stakeholders.</li> <li>The Climate Center works with the state of Colorado’s Water Availability Task Force to assess current water challenges, and aid conservancy districts and city utilities in planning.</li> </ul> AgriMet:  <ul> <li>Crop water use charts were generated for each station each day of the growing season, April through mid-October -- a total of almost 10,000 crop water use charts. These charts are specifically tailored to 50 crops grown in the Pacific Northwest</li> <li>Crop water use charts, annual evapotranspiration summaries, and daily weather summaries were made available to thousands of users through a home page on the World Wide Web. Much of this information is then re-disseminated by agricultural consultants, irrigation districts, and local newspapers.</li> <li>Numerous special data requests were filled, providing high quality agricultural weather and crop water use data to a variety of users.</li> <li>Access to all historical weather and crop water use information is available on Reclamation’s AgriMet Home Page on the Internet.</li> <li>AgriMet weather data is utilized daily by the Oregon State University Integrated Plant Protection Center for degree day and pest management modeling.</li> <li>AgriMet soil temperature data is used by the USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board for assessing agricultural conditions in the Pacific Northwest.</li> <li>AgriMet crop consumptive water use information is used by Oregon State University’s Online Irrigation Scheduling Program. This program assists irrigators in efficient irrigation scheduling practices.</li> <li>AgriMet is being used as the source of ET information for residential lawn “Smart Controllers” in several locations in the Northwest though Irrisoft’s “Weather Reach” program.</li> <li>Reclamation and Kootenai County Soil and Water Conservation District received funding from IDWR and other entities to perform a case study of scientific irrigation scheduling using AgriMet data. This project will also integrate Lakeland School District’s K-12 STEM program.</li> <li>A network of six weather stations was installed for the Warm Springs Tribe to look at micro climates and frost pockets for future projects.</li> <li>A station was installed at the Entiat National Fish Hatchery to compliment Reclamation’s irrigation well installation throughout the watershed.</li> <li>Two stations were installed at the Boise and Twin Falls fairgrounds with a live data feed and display inside the Ag Pavilion during the fair.</li> <li>The AgriMet program coordinator made several presentations in 2013 to highlight the importance of agricultural weather data collection and ET modeling in the West. These presentations include:</li> <li>December 2016: Jama presented at the Treasure Valley Irrigators Conference to about 100 farmers, extension agents, vendors and agencies.</li> <li>March 2017: Jama Hamel presented the AgriMet program to many different federal, state, local and private entities interested in supporting a weather station near Burns, OR.</li> <li>Met with OWRD at the BKVO station to educate staff on calibration and maintenance protocol.</li> <li>April 2017: Jama presented the AgriMet program to participants in Reclamation’s Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work day.</li> <li>May 2017: Met with Utah Climate Center for technical collaboration and training for new employees</li> <li>June 2017: Met with CKST and State of Montana for training on our calibration and maintenance procedures</li> </ul> Kentucky: <ul> <li>Collected multi-site data to calibrate and evaluate model results</li> <li>Data-model integration for regional and global simulations</li> <li>Improved algorithms to regenerate fine-resolution climate data (precipitation and radiation)</li> </ul>   Objective 4.  Facilitate interagency coordination for data collection and maintenance of monitoring sites in the western U.S. Colorado: <ul> <li>Remotely sensed vegetative health and soil moisture are included in drought update reports.</li> <li>New gridded model products such as the Evaporative Demand Drought Index are used in the Climate Center’s drought updates.</li> <li>New experimental seasonal forecasting products are being used in Climate Center research</li> <li>Geographic Information Systems software is a fundamental part of data mapping for both CoAgMET and CoCoRaHS.</li> </ul> AgriMet:  Coordinate the development of new climatological analysis technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information systems. <ul> <li>Graphical quality control procedures using Excel and Visual Basic continue to improve daily data quality control procedures.</li> <li>Reclamation and WSU received funding from Reclamation’s Science and Technology Research Program for converting WSU’s Irrigation Scheduler to a smart phone application and enhancing features.</li> <li>New CR1000 data loggers and Raven XT cellular modems were implemented for each site. Programming and coordination with the Hydroment program is in operation for input of retrieved data with a data base conversion underway.</li> </ul>

Publications

Impact Statements

AgriMet is being used as the source of ET information for residential lawn “Smart Controllers” in several locations in the Northwest. These controllers automatically apply only the water needed to replace consumptive use. Since most homeowners over irrigate their lawn, use of Smart Controllers reduces water use.

Date of Annual Report: 10/31/2018

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/19/2018 - 09/21/2018
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2017 - 09/30/2018

Participants

Mike Anderson, California Dept. of Water Resources; Lorrie Flint, US Geological Service; Jama Hamel, US Bureau of Reclamation; Kathie Dello, Oregon State University; Dan McEvoy, Desert Research Institute, NV; Amada Sheffield, NOAA - University of California; Danny Marks, USDA-Ag. Research Service; Steve Ostoja, USDA-Ag. Research Service; Lauren Parker, University of California, Davis; Dave DuBois, New Mexico State University; Ed Martin, Admin. Advisor.

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes Attachment:

2018 WERA 102 Davis Minutes.docx

Accomplishments

WERA 102 Climate Data and Analyses for Applications in Agriculture and Natural Resources Date of Annual Report: October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018 Accomplishments Objective 1.  Collaborate with federal agency climate hubs and centers to highlight their unique roles and leverage limited resources for research activities related to agriculture and resource management in the western U.S. Arizona: Working with USDA SW Climate Hub on developing rangeland precipitation monitoring best practices and decision support tools including <a href="https://myraingelog.arizona.edu/">https://myraingelog.arizona.edu/</a>. Several workshops have been held to deliver these tools to ranchers and land managers. M. Crimmins California: This year California through the Office of the State Climatologist has worked with the US Drought Monitor, the National Weather Service, the California Nevada Applications Program RISA, the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, United States Geological Survey California Water Science Center, Western Region Climate Center and the National Interagency Drought Information System on a number of projects related to information support to drought/flood emergency response/planning in a warming world.   Projects like the Airborne Snow Observatory leverage funds from federal, state, and local entities to improve the quantification of snow water equivalent and its spring runoff for resources management.  The State Climatologist also participated in the Research Work Group and Coastal/Oceans Work Group of the Climate Action Team.  The Climate Action Team is a State-level multi-agency collaborative effort to organize state agency response to climate change.  The State Climatologist oversees the Atmospheric River Research Program for California and manages the University of California Climate Services Agreement which is used to collaborate on research projects with University of California campuses. Colorado: The primary activities related to these objectives involved an expansion of the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network (CoAgMET).  This expansion touches on all four of the listed WERA-102 objectives. It was listed under Objective 1 for ease of reporting. This year the CoAgMET network expanded by 10 stations in Western Colorado thanks to a collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.  The stations, supplied by the USBR’s AgriMet network, were installed and will be maintained by CoAgMET with support from USBR. The purpose for this expansion is to assist in the assessment of agricultural consumptive use in the Upper Colorado River Basin led by the USBR and Upper Colorado River Commission.  The CoAgMET data are being used by USBR and the contractors as point data to go along with remotely sensed satellite data and Eddy Covariance Towers to assess the impact of agriculture on the Colorado River.  This study includes Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico as well. This project fits in with one of the missions of CoAgMET, to measure accurate weather data to calculate and report reference evapotranspiration data throughout Colorado.  These 10 new stations bring the CoAgMET network to 85 stations and all data are freely available for use by anyone to use.  Further, the data will help support the objectives of WERA-102 to monitor agriculture and resource management in the western US. New Mexico:  This year the NM Climate Center collaborated with the USDA Southwest Climate Hub in holding several drought and CoCoRaHS workshops across New Mexico. During the process we coordinated the workshops with county Farm Service Administration staff and invitations were send through their office. This effort was tied to the tribal outreach collaboration with Southwest Hub and included a drought workshop in Ft. Defiance, Arizona during the summer of 2018. During the summer our office was contacted by the Southwest, Midwest, and Southern Plains Hubs to conduct an air quality and agriculture synthesis project. The output of this project is to synthesize the national state of knowledge on integrated air quality and production agricultural impacts, with emphasis on regionally relevant issues in the Midwest-Northern Plains and Southern Plains-Southwest. The synthesis will focus on dust, chemical drift, ozone, ammonia and odors. As part of the project we will also convene a Southern Plains-Southwest air quality and production agriculture science and applications workshop. Nevada: The Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC), in Reno, Nevada, has worked with a number of federal agencies and climate groups this year including the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the National Weather Service, the U.S. Drought Monitor, the California-Nevada Climate Applications Program RISA, NOAA’s Physical Science Division, and NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information. Development of the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI; <a href="https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/eddi/">https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/eddi/</a>) from research to operations has leveraged funds from several of the groups listed above. EDDI is used weekly as an input to the U.S. Drought Monitor and is also used to detect early warning of agricultural flash drought. This year coincides with year 2 of funding from NIDIS to develop the Nevada portion of the California-Nevada Drought Early Warning System with main priorities including developing drought monitoring metrics and research, developing forecast and decision support tools for resource managers, and improving drought early warning communication and outreach.  US Bureau of Reclamation - AgriMet <ul> <li>Calibration and maintenance of sensors was performed at AgriMet stations during the spring in preparation for the growing season.</li> <li>Remedial maintenance visits were made as needed to weather stations in order to maintain operational status and data quality standards.</li> <li>The Metric ET Remote Sensing model utilizes AgriMet data as “ground truths” for calibration of the model.  Data collection methods and computations are done in conjunction with Dr. Rick Allen, University of Idaho, Kimberly (developer of Metric) to optimize data accuracy.</li> <li>Reclamation continues to cooperate with the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory to transfer information from eleven existing stations to Reclamation’s computer system for use in crop   water modeling.</li> <li>Reclamation ingests data from over 60 weather stations managed by Utah Climate Center, Nevada Desert Research Institute and Colorado Climate Center.</li> <li>Enhancements continue to be made to Reclamation’s AgriMet Home Page on the World Wide Web to improve access to weather and crop water use information.</li> <li>Near-real time weather data from AgriMet stations continue to be incorporated into several other networks to improve the delivery of timely weather data to a variety of users: the Mesowest Network (sponsored by the University of Utah), the National Weather Service in Missoula, MT (Current surface observations in the Pacific Northwest), USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board, Oregon State University’s Integrated Plant Protection Center, Oregon State University’s Irrigation Water Management Online Program,  AWIS Weather Services, Inc., and Irrisoft’s Weather Reach irrigation water management system.</li> <li>Reclamation is participating in the Committee for Integrated Observing Systems (CIOS), an initiative by the Federal Government to integrate numerous weather networks.</li> </ul> Objective 2.  Evaluate monitoring network capabilities to facilitate regional comparison of data to address critical issues in agriculture and natural resources management. Arizona:  Working with B. McMahan (UofA CLIMAS) to develop a precipitation monitoring network intercomparison project for areas in and around Tucson. This includes using the UofA Rainlog.org network which has recently developed an application programming interface to more readily access network data. This project will establish a high resolution combined network database to improve drought and flood risk monitoring and to help with water conservation efforts tied to water harvesting and irrigation control.  M. Crimmins California: This year, California is working within the Department of Water Resources to organize its monitoring programs and develop a strategic plan to obtain sufficient funding and personnel to effectively manage the networks for water resources management.  The networks benefit agriculture through their informing agencies of water conditions that help set priorities for water allocations to multiple sectors including agriculture.  As part of this effort, the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office is working to rehabilitate its upper watershed weather monitoring network to provide consistent, high-quality data, while minimizing the operations and maintenance time and costs.  In addition, the Office of the State Climatologist produces an annual report called the Hydroclimate Report that examines precipitation, temperature, snowpack, runoff, and sea level rise with respect to a warming world and discusses the extremes and events of note from the water year. Kentucky:  The overall goal of the Ren research group is to understand, assess and predict natural processes and human-caused changes in Earth’s ecosystems and climate by using an integrated systems approach employing a combination of numerical models, remote sensing and GIS, and field observations and measurements. The recent research focus of the lab is therefore driven by the key scientific question: how can we identify climate smart agricultural practices at plot and field scales to regional and watershed scales that are effective at mitigating climate change, protecting soil health, and sustaining land and aquatic systems while enhancing food production? Our lab conducts an integrated system approach to support my research programs, including 1) agroecosystem model improvement; 2) multi-source data collection and analysis, 3) model input data development and 4) data-model integration and model simulations for specific research questions.        Collected multi-site data to calibrate and evaluate model results <ul> <li>Data-model integration for regional and global simulations</li> <li>Improved algorithms to regenerate fine-resolution climate data (precipitation and radiation)</li> </ul> New Mexico:  The New Mexico Climate Center continued operation of the ZiaMet agricultural climate network to support the Agricultural Science Centers, student lead experiments, and the local agricultural community. Through funding from the National Mesonet, US Bureau of Reclamation, and maintenance arrangements with the Agricultural Science Centers, we were able to sustain ten stations throughout the year. We operate all of our stations with 5-minute interval and make it available to the public through Mesowest, http://mesowest.utah.edu and through our website. The Climate Center has continued the operation of the NWS Cooperative station on the NMSU campus (Coop Number 290131) extending the period of record to 123 years.  This NWS Cooperative station in one of 6 Agricultural Science Centers across the state collects air and soil temperatures, daily and 15-minute precipitation, and daily pan evaporation measurements by NMSU staff. Our office also maintains the Regional Climate Reference Network (USRCRN) stations in New Mexico. This is a collaboration between our university, the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and local municipalities. Nevada: Most of the stations included in the Nevada Integrated Climate and Evapotranspiration Network (NICE Net) were established around 2010 and now have several years of data to use for evaluations. This year the WRCC helped a University of Nevada Reno undergraduate student obtain a research scholarship to compare the NICE Net data to the National Weather Service Forecast Reference Evapotranspiration (FRET) product. The WRCC then served as the mentor to the student for the project. The FRET forecasts go from 1 to 7 days and can be used by farmers to plan for short-term water use and irrigation scheduling. The evaluations showed FRET does reasonably well and the next steps are to establish an end-user (farmers) specific set of tools that are easy to integrate into farming operations. We also plan to extend the research across CONUS to all agricultural weather station networks.  US Bureau of Reclamation - AgriMet: <ul> <li>The AgriMet program is currently providing technical assistance and data for the WWCRA climate change project affiliated with numerous regions and government entities.</li> </ul>  Objective 3.  Promote access to, use of, and further development of monitoring networks and associated value added products to meet the needs of agriculture and resource management in the West. Arizona: Promoted access to and use of GHCN station temperature data with viticulturists in Arizona and New Mexico. The potential application of the data is in the context of late spring frosts, maximum temperatures during the ripening period, and early autumn frosts, all of which are critical for fruit yield and quality. J. Weiss Continued promotion of the AZMet, RAWS, SNOTEL, CoCoRaHS, Flood Control District weather and precipitation networks to researchers, Master Gardeners, and community conservation groups.  Activities included presentations on Arizona climate and drought as well as responding to requests for weather and climate data for Arizona.  Discussions with Campbell Scientific, Inc. regarding opportunities to expand monitoring networks around the state. N. Selover California:  In addition to the activities described in Objective 2, the Office of the State Climatologist is working with federal and local partners as well as the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes on the use of monitoring and forecast products to facilitate program efforts like the Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations, Forecast Coordinated Operations, and the California Nevada Drought Early Warning System component of the National Interagency Drought Information System.  In addition, the State Climatologist is working with colleagues in the Department of Water Resources to improve water data service via implementation of the Open Water Data Initiative passed by the California State Legislature in Assembly Bill 1755. The State Climatologist also provides interviews, and public speaking engagements to meet this objective. New Mexico: Our New Mexico Climate Center maintains a database that holds archives of daily and hourly weather data from multiple networks across New Mexico. The website http://weather.nmsu.edu is maintained at our office and serves as the portal for all web-based products. We continued to serve drought products on the NM Climate Center website to include county-wide drought monitor time series plots and the current US Drought Monitor map of the state. Climate related products have been promoted at most of the invited talks given by the State Climatologist. Between four to six speaking engagements were given per month related to drought, climate change, seasonal weather predictions, air quality, and climate monitoring. We continued to be offered opportunities to speak on climate on local TV and radio media this year with the drought as the main topic of interest. Nevada:  The WRCC completed an upgrade to the California Climate Tracker (<a href="https://wrcc-dev.dri.edu/Tracker/CA/">https://wrcc-dev.dri.edu/Tracker/CA/</a>) which allows users to generate PRISM-based graphics and data for various regions in the state as well as statewide values. Current and archived temperature and precipitation data are available for the period spanning 1895-present. This upgrade was funded by the California Department of Water Resources who use the data and graphics in end of year climate reports. The WRCC, in collaboration with the University of Idaho, has continued to develop the Climate Engine (<a href="https://app.climateengine.org/">https://app.climateengine.org/</a>). Climate Engine is a Google Earth Engine-based web application that allows users to access climate and satellite data easily. The Landsat data on Climate Engine allows for placed-based and field scale agricultural monitoring due to the 30-m pixel resolution. US Bureau of Reclamation - AgriMet: <ul> <li>Crop water use charts were generated for each station each day of the growing season, April through mid-October -- a total of almost 10,000 crop water use charts.  These charts are specifically tailored to 50 crops grown in the Pacific Northwest region.</li> <li>Crop water use charts, annual evapotranspiration summaries, and daily weather summaries were made available to thousands of users through a home page on the World Wide Web.  Much of this information is then re-disseminated by agricultural consultants, irrigation districts, and local newspapers.</li> <li>Numerous special data requests were filled, providing high-quality agricultural weather and crop water use data to a variety of users.</li> <li>Access to all historical weather and crop water use information is available on Reclamation’s AgriMet Home Page on the Internet.</li> <li>AgriMet weather data is utilized daily by the Oregon State University Integrated Plant Protection Center for degree day and pest management modeling.</li> <li>AgriMet soil temperature data is used by the USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board for assessing agricultural conditions in the Pacific Northwest.</li> <li>AgriMet crop consumptive water use information is used by Oregon State University’s Online Irrigation Scheduling Program.  This program assists irrigators in efficient irrigation scheduling practices.</li> <li>AgriMet is being used as the source of ET information for residential lawn “Smart Controllers” in several locations in the Northwest though Irrisoft’s “Weather Reach” program.</li> <li>Reclamation and Kootenai County Soil and Water Conservation District received funding from IDWR and other entities to perform a case study of scientific irrigation scheduling using AgriMet data.  This project will also integrate Lakeland School District’s K-12 STEM program.</li> <li>A network of six weather stations was installed for the Warm Springs Tribe to look at micro climates and frost pockets for future projects.</li> <li>A station was installed at the Entiat National Fish Hatchery to compliment Reclamation’s irrigation well installation throughout the watershed.</li> <li>Two stations were installed at the Boise and Twin Falls fairgrounds with a live data feed and display inside the Ag Pavilion during the fair.</li> <li>The AgriMet program coordinator made several presentations in 2013 to highlight the importance of agricultural weather data collection and ET modeling in the West.  These presentations include:</li> <li>October-December 2017: 22 sites were visited for maintenance. Two weather stations near Warm Springs, OR were damaged in wildfires, requiring extensive repair. The KFLO station was temporarily moved to allow the field to be laser leveled; it will return to the original location in the spring. Soil temp sensors were installed at all stations sponsored by Anheuser-Busch. The web platform upgrade to Linux was completed the end of December with transfer of Hydromet data. Prior to the upgrade, the two data sets were on different machines requiring support of two systems. Hosting on a single, more modern server will now allow for increased productivity and tools for data analysis.</li> <li>January-April 2018: 16 sites were visited for maintenance. The temporary move for the KFLO site became a permanent location, and the site was visited to make the installation permanent. Jama attended an irrigation and center pivot training for center pivot operation and irrigation management in Gooding, Idaho. Jama also met with the Upper Snake Field Office and NRCS to discuss a possible joint irrigation efficiency project. The daily data feed from the Linux back to the legacy system was discontinued and both AgrMet and Hydromet are now soley on the Linux system.</li> <li>April-June 2018: 15 sites were calibrated and 12 visited for maintenance. Jama assisted Colorado Climate Center installing 3 new stations funded by the Upper Colorado Region for a joint project with the Upper Colorado River Commission. Jama and Karl performed housekeeping and documentation on the AgriMet program in preparation for Karl’s departure from Reclamation.</li> <li>July-September 2018: 78 sites were calibrated and 10 visited for maintenance. Jama presented to the WERA 102 and WERA 1022 committees. Karl accepted a job with the USACE and relocated to Davis, CA, his position has not yet been filled. Jama has been working to replace funding after termination of this contract. This is the final report to be submitted to BPA, the AgriMet program would like to thank BPA for a successful 35-year partnership.</li> </ul> Objective 4.  Facilitate interagency coordination for data collection and maintenance of monitoring sites in the western U.S. Arizona:  Working through the Western Region Climate Center to make the Regional Climate Reference Network data available to all.  The 14 stations in Arizona are operated by National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Division, USGS, SRP, ASU and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. N. Selover California:  The Office of the State Climatologist provides technical support and interaction with the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program and Forecast Coordinated Operations facilitating data use, sharing, and coordinated efforts for monitoring site installation, operations, and maintenance in the upper watersheds of the west slope Sierra Nevada in California.  In addition, the State Climatologist works with other local water agencies in the State on projects that include data collection.  The State Climatologist continues to interact with the Earth Systems Research Laboratory on work with the Hydrometeorological Testbed Extreme Precipitation Network including the installation of two new atmospheric river observatories in November 2017.  In addition, work continues on the Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information Project, a $19 million grant to the 10 Bay Area Counties for improved precipitation observation, forecast, and decision support capabilities for water management. New Mexico:  Through the WERA 102 project we are continuing to work with Jama Hamel of the US Bureau of Reclamation to share our agricultural weather station data and include it in their quality assurance process. The Reclamation has also provided funds for an additional station with annual maintenance in Aztec, New Mexico. This station will be installed in the fall of 2018. We continued work with the New Mexico Department of Transportation on dust hazards on highways focusing on Interstate 10 in southwest New Mexico. As part of project we have installed a weather station and dust sensors to monitor wind erosion at one particular spot where accidents have occurred. We continue to monitor the NMDOT RWIS weather station data and real-time roadway camera images during high wind events to assess dust source locations. We recently started a project to help the New Mexico Department of Transportation collect weather data for their regional offices. This will result in having 7 automated weather stations across NM with near real-time access to the data. The project also includes precipitation monitoring at 65 NMDOT yards using CoCoRaHS gauges. The Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network in New Mexico continued to grow through the help of our regional coordinators at the National Weather Service and several recruitment efforts by county coordinators. In total there were 739 active observers in New Mexico with about 300 to 500 regularly taking measurements on a daily basis. Our office coordinated recruitment workshops this year in Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Silver City, Santa Rosa, and Roswell. Some observers are reaching the 13-year mark this year. Nevada: The WRCC provides routine maintenance to weather stations all across the Western U.S. including the NICE Net (<a href="https://nicenet.dri.edu/">https://nicenet.dri.edu/</a>), WRCC stations (<a href="https://wrcc.dri.edu/weather/index.html">https://wrcc.dri.edu/weather/index.html</a>), Community Environmental Monitoring Program (<a href="https://cemp.dri.edu/">https://cemp.dri.edu/</a>), and stations spread across Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. These data are also housed on WRCC servers. WRCC also maintains the Remote Automated Weather Station (<a href="https://raws.dri.edu/">https://raws.dri.edu/</a>) database which is heavily used for wildland fire management and operations.   US Bureau of Reclamation - AgriMet: <ul> <li>Graphical quality control procedures using Excel and Visual Basic continue to improve daily data quality control procedures.</li> <li>Reclamation and WSU received funding from Reclamation’s Science and Technology Research Program for converting WSU’s Irrigation Scheduler to a smartphone application and enhancing features.</li> <li>New CR1000 data loggers and Raven XT cellular modems were implemented for each site.  Programming and coordination with the Hydroment program is in operation for input of retrieved data with a database conversion underway.</li> </ul>

Publications

Abatzoglou, J. T., McEvoy, D. J., Redmond, K. T. (2017). The West Wide Drought Tracker: Drought Monitoring at Fine Spatial Scales, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 98, (9), 1815-1820, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0193.1 Bai, X., J. Yang, B. Tao, and W. Ren (2018) Spatio-temporal variations of soil active layer thickness in Chinese boreal forests from 2000 to 2015, Remote Sensing, 10 (8),1225. ClimateEngine.org, Ecological Engineering, 120, 432-440, doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.06.024 Crimmins, M.A., M. McClaran, J. Brugger, A. Hall, D. Tolleson, A. Brischke. 2017. Rain Gauges for Range Management: Precipitation Monitoring Best Practices Guide. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ). University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Publication AZ1751-2017, 7p. Crimmins, M.A., M. McClaran, J. Brugger, A. Hall, D. Tolleson. 2017. Do-it-yourself construction guide: Rugged accumulation precipitation gauge for remote monitoring. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ). University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Publication AZ1747-2017, 12p. Dangal, S., H. Tian, C. Lu, W. Ren, S. Pan, J. Yang, N. Di Cosmo, A. Hessl (2017), Integrating Herbivore Population Dynamics into a Global Land Biosphere Model: Plugging Animals into the Earth System. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. 9, 2920–2945, DOI: 10.1002/2016MS000904. De Antonio M., R. Ochoa, Z. Ghodsi Zadeh, O. Nayares, G.A. Morris, M. Spychala, D. DuBois, C. Valles (2018). Spatial and temporal effects on ozone concentration in El Paso Texas. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018. <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336528">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336528</a> DuBois D.W., G.A. Morris, M. Spychala, P.J. Walter, A.D. Garcia, S. Mahmud, A. Quevedo, J.E. Ceniceros, J. Gustavo Arias, R.M. Fitzgerald, T.E. Gill, R. Ochoa, O. Nayares, J. Treto, Z. Ghodsi Zadeh, S. Pourashraf, M. De Antonio, S. Engle, G. Lundeen, C. Valles (2018). The 2017 El Paso Ozone Transport Field Study. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018.  <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336470">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336470</a>  DuBois D.W., S. Engle. (2018). Network analysis of the former USRCRN stations across New Mexico. Poster Session 1 Nationwide Network of Networks - Poster Sessions, Sixth Symposium on the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise, <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336560">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336560</a> DuBois D.W., S. Engle. (2018). Using Python to QA and QC Data from the ZiaMet Weather Station Network, Session 4 Data And Visualization Tools. Eighth Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python, <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336541">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336541</a> DuBois, D. and G.A. Morris (2017). QAPP – Category III (Measurement Projects) for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: Ozonesonde Releases in El Paso. El Paso MPO Purchase Order: CEP01-2017002712, New Mexico State University Grant Number:  GR0005381 DuBois, D., G. Lundeen, and Z. Ghodsi Zadeh (2018). Southwestern New Mexico thunderstorm outflow dust events in 2017, Joint Session 9 Soil Dust II: Lofting, Transport, Characterization, and Interactions with Clouds and Climate, 10th Symposium on Aerosol–Cloud–Climate Interactions, <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336573">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/336573</a> Emberson, L. H. Pleijel, E. Ainsworth, M. van den Berg, W. Ren, S. Osborne, G. Mills, D. Pandey, F. Dentener, P. Büker, F. Ewert, R. Koeble, and R. Van Dingenen (2018), Ozone effects on crops and consideration in crop models, European Journal of Agronomy, DOI: 10.1016/j.eja.2018.06.002. Ferguson DB, Crimmins MA, Masayesva A, Meadow A, Weiss JL, Faulstich H. 2017. Drought Monitoring to Support Planning for the Hopi Tribe. Climate Assessment for the Southwest, Tucson AZ, 56pp. Hatchett, B. J., Daudert, B., Garner, C. B., Oakley, N. S., Putnam, A. E., White, A. B. (2017). Winter snow level rise in the northern Sierra Nevada from 2008-2017, Water, 9, 14 p., doi: 10.3390/w9110899 Paper No. 899 Hatchett, B. J., McEvoy, D. J. (2018). Exploring the Origins of Snow Drought in the Northern Sierra Nevada, California, Earth Interactions, 22, (2), 1-13, doi:10.1175/EI-D-17- 0027.1 Hausner, M. B., Huntington, J. L., Nash, C., Morton, C. G., McEvoy, D. J., Pilliod, D. S., Hegewisch, K., Daudert, B., Abatzoglou, J. T., Grant, G. (2018). Assessing the effectiveness of riparian restoration projects using Landsat and precipitation data from the cloud-computing application. Huang, Y., W. Ren, L. Wang, D. Hui, J. Grove, X. Yang, B. Tao, and B. Goff (2018), Greenhouse gas emissions and crop yield in no-tillage systems: a meta-analysis. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 268: 144-153, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2018.09.002">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2018.09.002</a>. Huntington, J. L., Hegewisch, K., Daudert, B., Morton, C. G., Abatzoglou, J. T., McEvoy, D. J., Erickson, T. (2017). Climate Engine: Cloud Computing and Visualization of Climate and Remote Sensing Data for Advanced Natural Resource Monitoring and Process Understanding, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 98, (11), 2397-2410, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00324.1 Jang, S., Kavvas, M.L., Ishida, K., Trinh, T., Ohara, N., Kure, S., Chen, Z.Q., Anderson, M.L., Matanga, G. and Carr, K.J., 2017. A Performance Evaluation of Dynamical Downscaling of Precipitation over Northern California. Sustainability, 9(8), p.1457. doi:10.3390/su9081457. Jang, S., Kure, S., Ohara, N., Kavvas, M.L., Chen, Z.Q., Carr, K.J. and Anderson, M.L., 2017. Application of WEHY-HCM for Modeling Interactive Atmospheric-Hydrologic Processes at Watershed Scale to a Sparsely Gauged Watershed. Sustainability, 9(9), p.1554. doi: 10.3390/su9091554. Jin, N., W. Ren, B. Tao, L. He, Q. Ren, S. Li, and Q. Yu (2018), Effects of water stress on water use efficiency of irrigated and rainfed wheat in the Loess Plateau, China, Science of the Total Environment, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.028. Mahmud S., N. Karle, R.M. Fitzgerald, S. Williams, A. Quevedo, D. DuBois, D. Lu, G. Morris, M. Deantonio, C. Valles, M. Medina (2018). Inter-Comparison of WRF Simulations, Radiosonde Meteorological Observations and Satellite Data for the Paso del Norte Region. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018. <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/332796">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/332796</a> Morris G.A., J.H. Flynn, B.L. Lefer, B. Heinemann, D.W. DuBois, A. Kotsakis, P.J. Walter, M. Spychala (2018). An Overview of the Texas Ozonesonde Network. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018. <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/333684">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/333684</a> Oakley, N. S., Lancaster, J. T., Hatchett, B. J., Stock, J., Ralph, F. M., Roj, S. C., Lukashov, S. (2018). A 22-year climatology of cool season hourly precipitation conducive to shallow landslides in California, Earth Interactions, 22, 1-35, doi: 10.1175/EI-D-17-0029.1 Paper No. 14 Oakley, N. S., Lancaster, J. T., Kaplan, M. L., Ralph, F. M. (2017). Synoptic conditions associated with cool season post-fire debris flows in the Transverse Ranges of southern California, Natural Hazards, 88, (1), 327-354, doi: 10.1007/s11069-017-2867-6 Ohara, N., Kavvas, M.L., Anderson, M.L., Chen, Z.Q. and Ishida, K., 2017. Characterization of Extreme Storm Events Using a Numerical Model–Based Precipitation Maximization Procedure in the Feather, Yuba, and American River Watersheds in California. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 18(5), pp.1413-1423. Reyes, J., O. Wendroth, C. Matocha, J. Zhu, W. Ren, A.D. Karathanasis. (2018) Reliably Mapping Clay Content Coregionalized with Electrical Conductivity. Soil Science Society of America Journal 82 (3): 578-592, https:// doi:10.2136/sssaj2017.09.0327. Shukla, S., McEvoy, D. J., Hobbins, M., Husak, G., Huntington, J. L., Funk, C., Macharia, D., Verdin, J. (2017). Examining the value of global seasonal reference evapotranspiration forecasts to support FEWS NET's food insecurity outlooks, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 56, (11), 2941-2949, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-17-0104.1">https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-17-0104.1</a> Spychala M.G., M. DeAntonio, D. DuBois, M. Medina, K. Minschwaner, G.A. Morris, P.J. Walter, C. Valles (2018). Investigating the Impact of the North American Summer Monsoon on Surface Ozone in El Paso, Texas. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018. <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/335293">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/335293</a> Sun, Z., Z. Ouyang, J. Zhao, S. Li, and W. Ren (2018), Recent rebound in observational large-pan evaporation driven by heat wave and droughts in the Lower Yellow River, Journal of Hydrology, 565: 237-247, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.08.014 Tian, H., C. Lu, S. Pan, J. Yang, R. Miao, W. Ren, Q. Yu, B. Fu, F. Jin, Y. Lu, J. Melillo, Z. Ouyang, C. Palm, J. Reilly (2018), Optimizing resource use efficiencies in the food-energy-water nexus for sustainable agriculture: from conceptual model to decision support system, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2018.04.003. Toride, K., Cawthorne, D.L., Ishida, K., Kavvas, M.L. and Anderson, M.L., 2018. Long-term trend analysis on total and extreme precipitation over Shasta Dam watershed. The Science of the total environment, 626, pp.244-254. Walter P.J., M. DeAntonio, D.W. DuBois, J.H. Flynn, A. Kotsakis, M. Medina, G.A. Morris, M.G. Spychala, C. Valles (2018). An Overview of Ozonesondes in Texas, 2017. Presented at the 20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, Austin, TX. 10 January 2018. <a href="https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/335262">https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/335262</a> Weiss J, Roudaut M. B. 2018. An Introduction to “Improved Understanding of Climate Variability and Change Relevant to Orchards and Vineyards in Arizona and New Mexico” – Farmington Agricultural Science Center, New Mexico, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), University of Arizona, 7pp. Weiss J, Roudaut M.B. 2018. An Introduction to “Improved Understanding of Climate Variability and Change Relevant to Orchards and Vineyards in Arizona and New Mexico” – Los Lunas 3 SSW, New Mexico, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), University of Arizona, 7pp. Weiss J, Roudaut M.B. 2018. An Introduction to “Improved Understanding of Climate Variability and Change Relevant to Orchards and Vineyards in Arizona and New Mexico” – State University, New Mexico, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), University of Arizona, 7pp. Weiss J, Roudaut M.B. 2018. An Introduction to “Improved Understanding of Climate Variability and Change Relevant to Orchards and Vineyards in Arizona and New Mexico” – Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus, Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), University of Arizona, 5pp. Zhu, X., X. Qiu, Y. Zeng, W. Ren, B. Tao, H. Pan, T. Gao and J. Gao (2018), High-resolution precipitation downscaling in mountainous areas over China: development and application of a statistical mapping approach. International Journal of Climatology, 38(1), 77-93, doi: 10.1002/joc.5162.

Impact Statements

US Bureau of Reclamation - AgriMet: AgriMet is being used as the source of ET information for residential lawn “Smart Controllers” in several locations in the Northwest. These controllers automatically apply only the water needed to replace consumptive use. Since most homeowners over irrigate their lawn, use of Smart Controllers reduces water use.

Date of Annual Report: 01/02/2020

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/30/2019 - 10/01/2019
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2018 - 09/30/2019

Participants

Dan McEvoy
Nina Oakley
Lauren Parker
Amanda Sheffield
Stephanie McAfee
Jama Hamel
Dave Dubois
Ed Martin
David Yates
Mike Anderson (via zoom)

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes Attachment:

WERA102_Minutes two day.docx

Accomplishments

WERA 102 Accomplishments October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019   Objective 1.  Collaborate with federal agency climate hubs and centers to highlight their unique roles and leverage limited resources for research activities related to agriculture and resource management in the western U.S. California: This year California through the Office of the State Climatologist has worked with the US Drought Monitor, the National Weather Service, the California Nevada Applications Program RISA, , the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, United States Geological Survey California Water Science Center, Western Region Climate Center and the National Interagency Drought Information System on a number of projects related to information support to drought/flood emergency response/planning in a warming world.  Collaboration with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes through the Atmospheric River Research Program has enabled multi-agency efforts like the Atmospheric River Offshore Recon effort to better characterize atmospheric rivers and relevant data initialization for global weather forecast models. Projects like the Airborne Snow Observatory leverage funds from federal, state, and local entities to improve the quantification of snow water equivalent and its spring runoff for resources management.  The State Climatologist also participated in the Research Work Group and Coastal/Oceans Work Group of the Climate Action Team.  The Climate Action Team is a State-level multi-agency collaborative effort to organize state agency response to climate change.  The State Climatologist oversees the Atmospheric River Research Program for California, which was renewed this year.  A collaborative agreement with the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center was initiated this year to explore options in product development and refinement for forecasts and outlooks extending out to a year.  The State Climatologist also joined the steering committee for a San Francisco Bay Area workgroup seeking to collaborate for a coordinated approach to mitigating the impacts of sea-level rise. Colorado Climate Center:  Related to Objective 1, CCC staff participated in a number of meetings and workshops that involved direct collaboration with federal agencies working on agriculture and resource management in the West.  In January 2019, Colorado state climatologist Russ Schumacher co-organized a workshop on climate at the Colorado Water Congress annual meeting, along with representatives from the state of Colorado and Denver Water.  This workshop included discussions and presentations related to water in the western US, with a focus on the Colorado River.  In April 2019, Russ Schumacher presented at and participated in an Integrated Warning Team workshop hosted by the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction.  The primary topics of this workshop were drought and wildfire, and the workshop included many federal, state, and local agencies.  In September 2019, Russ Schumacher and assistant state climatologist Becky Bolinger participated in a workshop on drought recovery, hosted by NOAA in Boulder.  This workshop involved collaboration and brainstorming with relevant officials on how best to communicate drought amelioration and recovery.  These are just a few examples of the many collaborations that the CCC has with federal, state, and local officials to best communicate useful weather and climate information. Nevada: The Desert Research Institute (DRI) and Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) have worked extensively with NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and Climate Program Office. Year three of a project to continue the development of Nevada’s Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) was completed (in collaboration with California). A strategic plan was developed to implement the NIDIS Drought and Wildland Fire Nexus (NDAWN), which defines the needs and challenges of fire managers to effectively utilize drought information and aims to meet those needs and to establish a robust drought and wildland fire decision-support information network. Researchers from WRCC worked closely with fire managers in Nevada and California, where fire managers began implementing the Evaporative Demand Drought Index for real-time operations and seasonal fire danger outlooks. USBR:  Attended and presented at WERA 102 meeting in Reno, NV to collaborate and share research, inf,ormation and ideas.   Objective 2.  Evaluate monitoring network capabilities to facilitate regional comparison of data to address critical issues in agriculture and natural resources management. California: This year, California is working within the Department of Water Resources to organize its monitoring programs and develop a strategic plan to obtain sufficient funding and personnel to effectively manage the networks for water resources management.  The networks benefit agriculture through their informing agencies of water conditions that help set priorities for water allocations to multiple sectors, including agriculture.  As part of this effort, the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office is working to rehabilitate its upper watershed weather monitoring network to provide consistent, high-quality data, while minimizing the operations and maintenance time and costs.  A pilot effort was launched this year, providing observing stations for post-fire monitoring of weather conditions to facilitate emergency response and gain additional data to inform post-fire process descriptions.  Budget change proposals were submitted to significantly increase resourcing for surface hydrometeorological monitoring.  A post hazard grant application was initiated to better share and interpret data among agencies involved in post-fire response and recovery.  The Office of the State Climatologist produces an annual report called the Hydroclimate Report that examines precipitation, temperature, snowpack, runoff, and sea-level rise with respect to a warming world and discusses the extremes and events of note from the water year.  The water year 2018 report is delayed and information for the 2019 report is being gathered to hopefully overcome the problems experienced in 2018. Colorado Climate Center:  Related to objectives 2-4, the CCC continues to manage the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network (CoAgMET), which now has 87 stations, many of which are in western Colorado in the Upper Colorado River Basin.  We now are building up a multi-year record of data in the UCRB that informs assessments of agricultural consumptive use.  The US Bureau of Reclamation uses the CoAgMET data along with data from other states in their AgriMet network, along with satellite data and eddy covariance towers, to assess the impact of agriculture on the Colorado River.  We have also worked to further improve data access and mapping of the CoAgMET data, which are freely available. These data help to support the objectives of WERA-102 to monitor agriculture and resource management in the western US. Nevada: DRI conducted a study using observations from the Nevada Integrated Climate and Evapotranspiration Network (NICE Net) to validate the National Weather Service Forecast Reference Evapotranspiration (FRET) product. Reference ET is a critical variable to understanding consumptive water use in the West, and forecasts of reference ET could assist water managers and farmers in water conservation efforts. Study results indicate that in general, the FRET offers reasonable forecasts from 1-7 days, and the NICE Net can be used to bias correct the FRET for improved water use estimates. USBR:  Reclamation continued to assess needs and wish list items for better data monitoring and availability in cooperation with seven different state networks as a collaborative effort for a cohesive ET network. The AgriMet program is also a contributor to the RWIS water information sharing pilot project. Reclamation is also working on a collaborative Science and Technology project with multiple agencies for real-time ET forecasting.   Objective 3.  Promote access to, use of, and further development of monitoring networks and associated value added products to meet the needs of agriculture and resource management in the West. Arizona:  Jeremy Weiss: This year, Arizona – Jeremy Weiss promoted access to and use of GHCN station temperature data with viticulturists in Arizona and New Mexico. The potential application of the data is in the context of late spring frosts, maximum temperatures during the ripening period, and early autumn frosts, all of which are critical for fruit yield and quality. California:  In addition to the activities described in Objective 2, the Office of the State Climatologist is working with federal and local partners as well as the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes on the use of monitoring and forecast products to facilitate program efforts like the Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations, Forecast Coordinated Operations, and the California Nevada Drought Early Warning System component of the National Interagency Drought Information System.  In addition, the State Climatologist is working with colleagues in the Department of Water Resources to improve water data service via the implementation of the Open Water Data Initiative passed by the California State Legislature in Assembly Bill 1755. The State Climatologist also provides interviews, and public speaking engagements to meet this objective.  These speaking engagements include the Western States Water Council Workshops aimed at data and forecasting needs for resources management in the west. Nevada: The WRCC and DRI have several recently developed web applications for climate monitoring to support agriculture and resource management. Many of the products in these applications would not be possible without long-term monitoring networks that support high-quality weather and climate data. The two main web applications include Climate Engine (<a href="https://app.climateengine.org/climateEngine">https://app.climateengine.org/climateEngine</a>) and the California Climate Tracker (<a href="https://wrcc.dri.edu/Climate/Tracker/CA/">https://wrcc.dri.edu/Climate/Tracker/CA/</a>). Presentations from WRCC staff on these tools have been given at a number of large national weather, climate, and wildland fire conferences. Currently, the WRCC is building other state climate trackers to mimic the California Climate Tracker and a snow drought tracker is also in development to address reduced snowpack in the West under a warming climate. USBR:  Management changes slowed the momentum of web development within the AgriMet program, pending hiring a new programmer. RWIS continues to make strides. Seven new stations were installed in key locations for METRIC coverage. These stations included four in Montana for the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe with USBR tribal assistance funds for installation and DNRC funds for ongoing maintenance. Two additional stations were installed in E Idaho with funding from the University of Idaho and Idaho Department of Water Resources. The final station was installed with funding from the AgriMet program as a youth outreach project with cadets and staff from the Idaho Youth Challenge Academy.   Objective 4.  Facilitate interagency coordination for data collection and maintenance of monitoring sites in the western U.S. California:  The Office of the State Climatologist provides technical support and interaction with the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program and Forecast Coordinated Operations facilitating data use, sharing, and coordinated efforts for monitoring site installation, operations, and maintenance in the upper watersheds of the west slope Sierra Nevada in California.  In addition, the State Climatologist works with other local water agencies in the State on projects that include data collection.  The State Climatologist continues to interact with the Earth Systems Research Laboratory on work with the Hydrometeorological Testbed Extreme Precipitation Network.  A new five-year collaborative agreement is working its way through the contracting process.  In addition, work continues on the Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information Project, a $19 million grant to the 10 Bay Area Counties for improved precipitation observation, forecast, and decision support capabilities for water management. Nevada: The WRCC provides routine maintenance to weather stations all a,cross the Western U.S. including the NICE Net (<a href="https://nicenet.dri.edu/">https://nicenet.dri.edu/</a>), WRCC stations (<a href="https://wrcc.dri.edu/weather/index.html">https://wrcc.dri.edu/weather/index.html</a>), Community Environmental Monitoring Program (<a href="https://cemp.dri.edu/">https://cemp.dri.edu/</a>), and stations spread across Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. These data are also housed on WRCC servers. WRCC also maintains the Remote Automated Weather Station (<a href="https://raws.dri.edu/">https://r,aws.dri.edu/</a>) database which is heavily used for wildland fire management and operations.   USBR:  The AgriMet program continues to work wi,th numerous local, state and federal agencies as well as private sector sponsors to provide a cohesive network with high-quality data. This includes site maintenance assistance and data monitoring.

Publications

Impact Statements

Arizona: Arizona has worked with tribal governments in helping to develop three new Drought Mitigation Plans for the Navajo, Hopi, and White Mountain Apache tribes.

Date of Annual Report: 11/20/2020

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/24/2020 - 09/24/2020
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2019 - 09/30/2020

Participants

Emile Elias
Chris Daly
Russ Qualls
Jeremy Weiss
Zach Schwalbe
Mike Crimmins
Nancy Selover
Russ Schumacher
Lauren Parker
Michael Anderson
David Yates
Dannele Peck
Megan O’Rouke
Ed Martin

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes Attachment:

WERA 102 Sept 24 2020 minutes.docx

Accomplishments

Objective 1.  Collaborate with federal agency climate hubs and centers to highlight their unique roles and leverage limited resources for research activities related to agriculture and resource management in the western U.S. Arizona:  (Crimmins) Working with USDA SW Climate Hub on developing rangeland precipitation monitoring best practices and decision support tools, including <a href="https://myraingelog.arizona.edu/">https://myraingelog.arizona.edu/</a>. Several workshops have been held to deliver these tools to ranchers and land managers. Several new features based on user feedback are being developed, including a custom chart generator and notification system. California: California: This year, the State Climatologist participated in three California Climate Hub meetings and facilitated distributing materials to partner state and local agencies as alignment warranted.  The State Climatologist also interacted with the USDA Agricultural Research Service Northwest Watershed Research Center on incorporating Lidar-based snowpack measurements into watershed-based snowmelt models.  Efforts to formalize the interaction through an agency to agency MOU have yet to be successful. Colorado: This year, Colorado has worked with USDA climate hubs staff to gain feedback on a new Crop Specific Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (CSPEI), which takes into account the timing of planting and harvest of different crops to better analyze how drought may be affecting them. This research and tool will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal in late 2020. Similarly, we have helped the USDA Northern Plains climate hub promote their GrassCast product and provided feedback to them on this tool. State climatologist Russ Schumacher gave a presentation to climate hub staff in 2020. A Colorado Climate Services Summit, organized in collaboration with numerous federal and state partners, was scheduled for September 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. New Mexico:  The NM Climate Center continued a collaboration with the USDA Southwest Climate Hub, Quivira Coalition, NIDIS, and the Santa Ana Natural Resources Department in holding several drought webinars focused on tribes in New Mexico and across the Four Corners. Webinars were held on June 25, July 23, August 27, and September 24, 2020. We also continued work on the air quality and agriculture synthesis project to report and synthesize the national state of knowledge on integrated air quality and production agricultural impacts across the US. We held a webinar to promote results from the synthesis on May 18, 2020. A journal manuscript on this topic is being drafted and will be ready for submission at the end of the calendar year 2020. We participated in a New Mexico meteorological monitoring gap analysis with the SW Hub, Western Regional Climate Center, and the South Central Climate Science Adaptation Center. The group searched weather station locations and is in the process of creating a data matrix to determine what data gaps exist across the region.   Objective 2.  Evaluate monitoring network capabilities to facilitate regional comparison of data to address critical issues in agriculture and natural resources management. Arizona: (Crimmins) Working with B. McMahan (UofA CLIMAS) to develop a precipitation monitoring network intercomparison project for areas in and around Tucson. This includes using the UofA Rainlog.org network, which has recently developed an application programming interface to more readily access network data. This project will establish a high resolution combined network database to improve drought and flood risk monitoring and to help with water conservation efforts tied to water harvesting and irrigation control. The project yielded an experimental monsoon season precipitation viewer (<a href="https://monsoon.environment.arizona.edu/">https://monsoon.environment.arizona.edu/</a>) and a paper in review (International Journal of Climatology) in 2019-2020. California: This year, the State Climatologist worked with the California Department of Water Resources Programs to catalog monitoring capabilities and determine gaps within the Department.  A funding proposal to address gaps was developed and may make future budgets once the post-COVID recovery takes place.  California is exploring working with multiple agencies and partners at federal, state, and local levels on collaborative monitoring efforts for resources management in a changing climate.  Meetings have been held, but no action plans or actions have taken place yet.  Pilot project opportunities are being explored. Colorado: This year Colorado, through funding from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, advanced the use of calibrated soil moisture measurements in drought early warning and water supply.  This was done by calibrating existing soil moisture sensors at CoAgMET stations and developing tools available on the CoAgMET website (coagmet.colostate.edu). CoAgMET also developed and built upon tools to help track evaporative demand in Colorado. New Mexico:  Our current ZiaMet weather observational network consists of 26 stations, with 10 being configured as agricultural weather stations. These 10 stations consist of 3-meter wind and direction, 2-meter air temperature and relative humidity, solar radiation, rain gauge, and soil temperature at 10-cm depth. A key user of the data are farmers who use these agricultural stations to calculate reference evapotranspiration in crop irrigation scheduling. The remaining 16 stations are former NOAA US Regional Climate Reference Network weather stations, with triple-redundant 1.5-meter air temperature sensors and one precipitation gauge, using triple-redundant vibrating wire sensors. The data supports numerous programs, including agriculture, water management, industry, emergency management, transportation, federal and state government, education, and the media. We continue to telemeter our data to the NM Climate Center’s data center in real-time and available online http://weather.nmsu.edu. Data is also sent every 5-minutes to the nation-wide Mesowest server so that anyone can use the real-time data, https://mesowest.utah.edu/. Since 2015 we have been a part of the National Mesonet Program that provides the National Weather Service (NWS) with data from real-time weather stations. Our goal is to expand the current ZiaMet network across the state to provide New Mexicans with a high-quality source of weather information. The Climate Center has continued the operation of the NWS Cooperative station on the NMSU campus (Coop Number 290131), extending the period of record to 128 years.  This NWS Cooperative station in one of 6 Coop stations operated by NMSU across the state to collect air and soil temperatures, daily and 15-minute precipitation, and daily pan evaporation measurements. Oregon: The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University continues to assimilate and quality control weather and climate data on a daily basis from a large number of western monitoring networks.  These include federal networks such as COOP, RAWS, SNOTEL, and USCRN, and state and regional networks in Washington, California, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, among others.  We are in contact with many data providers, give feedback on data quality issues as they arise, and discuss strategies to expand coverage to under-reported areas of the West.    Objective 3.  Promote access to, use of, and further development of monitoring networks and associated value added products to meet the needs of agriculture and resource management in the West. Arizona:  (Weiss) Arizona addressed this Objective through contributions to newsletters, which are listed in the publications section. (Crimmins) Developed an online tool that accesses and generates drought index comparisons from the NOAA NCEI nClimGrid database to support drought monitoring… https://uaclimateextension.shinyapps.io/SDIViz/. California:  California is developing projects and programs that leverage information in monitoring networks for applications like forecast-informed reservoir operations.  The use of data for landscape management connecting fire, water, and wildlife management are being explored through multi-agency meetings.  Advancing monitoring strategies to observe, characterize, and forecast atmospheric rivers is being undertaken as part of the Atmospheric Rivers Research Program.  Efforts continue to pivot the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab research effort on an airborne snow observatory into a program-based operational environment.  Funding limitations preclude full implementation at this time, but collaborative funding ventures keep the program afloat for now.  California is working to explore the monitoring of the rain/snow transition zone of the Sierra Nevada during winter storms to better understand the impact of climate change on this key transition that pivots water supply availability with snowpack and potential flood hazard from rainfall and snowmelt.  The successful development of these concepts can be extrapolated to other western States. Colorado: This year, Colorado attended the Annual Colorado Water Congress Meeting and the Colorado Farm Show to promote the CoAgMET network.  We also developed improved web-based mapping and data access tools for the CoAgMET website, including new interactive graphics (coagmet.colostate.edu). Colorado Climate Center staff gave multiple presentations at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting in January 2020, which highlighted how our office tracks evaporative demand and other drought indicators.  New Mexico:  Our New Mexico Climate Center maintains a database that holds archives of daily and hourly weather data from multiple networks across New Mexico. The website http://weather.nmsu.edu is maintained at our office and serves as the portal for all web-based products. This year we are working on a pecan flood irrigation scheduling program using weather station data from the ZiaMet network and evapotranspiration forecasts from NOAA. Since this year we are in a testing phase, we will not be releasing the URL until 2021. Oregon: Climate monitoring data serve as the driver behind the PRISM weather and climate mapping system, which produces state-of-the-art weather and climate maps for the US on a daily basis. PRISM climate maps are made available free of charge via our public website (<a href="http://prism.oregonstate.edu">http://prism.oregonstate.edu</a>).  These digital grids are downloaded over 30,000 times a day and are used in a wide variety of applications in agriculture and natural resources management.  The PRISM website also provides a number of value-added products, such as data explorer that drills down into thousands of PRSM grids to provide time-series data for a specific location, and numerous graphical products. An important application of the PRISM grids is to support the USDA RMA federal crop insurance program, which has provided essential funding for this activity.  Other applications include hydrologic and ecosystem modeling, agricultural economics, biogeography, and many more.   Objective 4.  Facilitate interagency coordination for data collection and maintenance of monitoring sites in the western U.S. California:  This year, California has worked with the Bureau of Reclamation, US Geological Survey, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Forest Service, and National Park Service to collaboratively collect weather and snowpack data for resources management.  Efforts are organized under the California Cooperative Snow Surveys, which is housed in the Department of Water Resources.  The Statewide Monitoring Network Section of the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office of the Department of Water Resources manages network maintenance and coordination with other agencies for these tasks.  Colorado: This year, Colorado continued collaborating with the US Bureau of Reclamation and the Upper Colorado River Commission by maintaining the CoAgMET stations in western Colorado.  These stations are utilized in the Upper Colorado River Basin Consumptive Use Comparison project.  CoAgMET also receives funding from the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the National Mesonet Program to further enhance the network as a Mesonet and Ag Weather Network. New Mexico:  We continued our recruitment for the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network in New Mexico. Our recruitment efforts this year were scaled back due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we did see some continued growth through the help of our regional coordinators at the National Weather Service. In total, there are about 700 active observers in New Mexico taking on average 500 measurements on a daily basis. On September 9, 2020, we had 698 observations in the state, including 65 snow measurements. We continued work with the New Mexico Department of Transportation on dust hazards on highways focusing on Interstate 10 in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. We currently have three 10-meter tower weather stations equipped with dust sensors to monitor wind erosion. Oregon: We continue to provide funding to the CoCoRaHS network, administered by Colorado State University. CoCoRaHS is the largest precipitation monitoring network in the country and is based solely on volunteer reports.

Publications

Impact Statements

Arizona Game and Fish has adopted myrangelog.arizona.edu to collect and manage their rain gauge network for drought planning and response.