Rainfall Tracker: Benefits & Use
Rainfall amounts matter more to your farm than might think. Moisture from rain is necessary for plant growth, but excessive rainfall can cause runoff and a variety of nutrient management problems. Monitoring rainfall totals is beneficial to keeping your crops healthy and helping you plan your crop season.
Use the Rainfall Tracker Tool
Benefits of Using the Rainfall Tracker Tool
The Rainfall Tracker tool tracks current and historical precipitation, as well as evapotranspiration at the field level. This allows you to predict when rain will begin and end in a specific location based on historical data.
In addition, the Rainfall Tracker can be used for a variety of things including:
- Keeping crops well watered
- Identifying weather patterns and trends in your field
- Knowing the best time for planting
- Identifying potential conditions for flooding and nutrient loss
- Tracking rainfall data
How to Use the Rainfall Tracker Tool
Select your field area using zip/postal code, city, state/province, or address. The time between your start date and end date cannot exceed seven months. The weekly and cumulated rainfall will be measured in inches.
1) Location selector: enter your postal/ zip code, state/province, or address. If your area does not work, select the geographical location nearest you.
3) Start date: enter your start date. Your end date should not exceed seven months from the time selected.
4) End date: enter your end date. Ensure this date does not exceed seven months from the start date.
From the example settings in the images above, we can see the weekly and cumulative rainfall amounts measured in inches for the time period selected.
General Rules of Thumb
Many people track rainfall using their local weather channel or news sites, but these sources usually don’t have the most precise data. Their measurements are often limited to specific regions and geographical locations. They can’t measure the area directly around your crop field, which could be impacted either more or less than where their sensors are located. The Rainfall Tracker tool can provide an educated estimate built from historical data on how much rain has fallen around your field, even if it may not be raining as much in other fields nearby.
Going Beyond the Basics
Rain and other irrigation events can affect your crop nutrition by causing potassium to runoff.
Learn more about how runoff can impact your crop nutrition.
Potassium regulates the opening and closing of plant stomata, which allow for gas and water vapor exchange.
Learn more about how potassium helps plants regulate moisture.
Go to the Rainfall Tracker Tool
