Example Report: Precipitation and Temperature Information

Precipitation Information
	Historical					Forecast
	07/13	07/14	07/15	07/16	07/17	07/18	07/19	07/20
Probability (%)	-	-	-	-	5	5	5	10
Glennonville	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	-	-	-	-
NWS	0.18	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.14
At Farm	na	na	na	na	-	-	-	-
Temperature Information
	Historical					Forecast
	07/13	07/14	07/15	07/16	07/17	07/18	07/19	07/20
Air Max (ºF)	88	91	92	93	95	96	97	97
Air Min (ºF)	74	74	72	72	70	72	72	70
Soil Temp 2" (ºF)	82	84	88	90	-	-	-	-

The table above will be included in your daily report.

Precipitation Data and Forecast
This table contains 4 days of historical information, and the forecast for today and the next 3 days. There are 3 potential sources for precipitation amounts and 1 source for probability of precipitation.

Probability (%)
This information is from the National Weather Service and is the greater of two 12-hour probability of precipitation forecasts that cover the 24 hour period beginning at 7:00 a.m. of the date listed. The forecasts are unique for an approximately 20 mile square grid.

The probability of precipitation (POP) is an estimate of the chance of precipitation falling anywhere in the forecast region. If it rains anywhere in the grid, the probability has come true. For example, if the POP is 70%, it means that given the weather situation at the time of the forecast 70% of the time it is expected to have some type of precipitation in the grid. It does not mean that the entire grid will get precipitation 70% of the time or that any particular location within the grid will get precipitation 70% of the time.

Nearest weather station
The report will provide precipitation data for the MU Agricultural Weather Station nearest your field. Different subscribers will have different location names in this line, depending on which Agricultural Weather Station is nearest to their specified location. This information, while not specific to your field, is a measured amount of rainfall using accurate instruments that can give a perspective of the amount of rain that fell in your region. In the absence of information in the NWS and At Farm rows, it is used by the Rainfall Needed for Runoff Advisory.

The rainfall reported is for the period starting at 6 a.m. the date listed to 6 a.m. on the next day. This adjustment from the traditional midnight to midnight precipitation quantity was made to the report so that it could be comparable to the National Weather Service (NWS) estimate.

NWS
The historical precipitation quantity (blue shaded columns) is obtained from the National Weather Service (NWS) for the previous four days. It is provided on approximately a 17 mile square grid by using all available data from radar and actual ground measurements throughout the state.

The precipitation quantity forecast for today and the next 3 days (yellow and pink columns) is from the NWS . The forecast is given on a 17 mile square grid.

Both the historical precipitation and forecast precipitation estimates provided by the NWS cover a 24 hour period beginning in the early morning (6:00/7:00 a.m.) on the day listed.

At Farm
The manager of any Horizon Point account can enter the rainfall that they have measured at their location. The purpose of having this feature is so that any advisories that use historical rainfall (estimated rainfall needed for runoff) have the most accurate information. It also can serve as a place to store your rainfall events so that your weather related information is easily found.

If you enter information into your report, the number will show up in the "At Farm" row and be used in generating advisories. If you do not enter information, "na," meaning "not available," will appear in that row.

Remember that the precipitation in the NWS row is the precipitation that is obtained for the latitude and longitude that you specified when you subscribed to Horizon Point. The presence of "na" in the "At Farm" row does not mean that you have no location specific precipitation estimate. It only means that you have not entered any information.

To enter measured precipitation into your report go to the Horizon Point website and login to the section entitled "If you have already created a user account" using the username and password that you specified when you first subscribed. Then choose the specific location for which you have rainfall data (note: some subscribers have only one location while others have several. The list of all locations you have will appear.). At the location page, click on "Add location rainfall data" and fill in the data fields to submit your information.

Air Max and Air Min (°F)
Historical data is derived from the nearest weather station. It is taken from hourly temperature measurements at each station.

The forecasted information is from the National Weather Service and is given on a approximately a 17 mile grid. The forecasted maximum temperature is given for a time period from approximately 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. on the day listed. The forecasted minimum temperature for a day is given for a time period from approximately 8:00 p.m. on the previous day to approximately 9:00 a.m. on the day listed.

Soil Temp 2" (°F)
This soil temperature is estimated for your latitude from the soil temperature probes at the MU Agricultural Weather Stations. This is not necessarily the nearest weather station to your field. Studies indicate that the weather station at the same latitude within Missouri, even if further than the nearest weather station, has the best estimates of soil temperature. The estimates are for the 24-hour period on the date shown on the report.

Learn more about the Horizon Point reports The wind speed and direction forecast is obtained from the National Weather Service on approximately a three mile grid. The forecasts are for today and the next two days in 3-hour increments. As noted in the footnote, the wind direction is "blowing from."
Learn more about the Horizon Point reports