Generally, when agricultural professionals and enthusiasts discuss the weather, they're not just making small talk the way two strangers sharing an elevator ride might engage each other, but rather are having a discourse about an important topic that is integral to their lives and a determining factor for how they manage their plants or crops, often on a daily basis. For them, there are two words that are commonly used when referring to current conditions or weather patterns: either wet or dry and there are two key components that affect these conditions: precipitation (rain + snow) and evapotranspiration (evaporation + the water used by plants). After determining values for each of these, we can find and track the water balance. Here is a graphical representation for our local water balance from April 2012 through November 2013:
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| The vertical blue lines along the bottom of the graph indicate precipitation events (+) and the vertical red lines indicate evapotranspiration (-) due to high temperatures and/or low humidity. The upper portion of the graph shows the deficit (red) or surplus (blue) of water with the green line representing the water balance. |
From the graph, we can see that the 2012 growing season was off to a good start, but drought conditions developed and created a water deficit which lasted into the spring of 2013. The good news is that a water surplus trend was started and continues.
- Chris Habeger
