From Forecasts to Fieldwork: Weather Tools for Wyoming Farmers and Ranchers

Oct. 1 marked the start of the new water year, and there is always a lot of coffee shop conversation around this time regarding the upcoming winter season. 

What is expected for precipitation and where will it fall? What about daily high or low temperatures and passing storm fronts?

These things matter a lot to the farmers and ranchers who depend on the weather to make their living, and local weather conditions – especially precipitation – can mean the difference between profit and loss. 

Having access to reliable and accurate weather information is critical to agriculturalists in Wyoming.

High-quality forecast information is delivered through the Wyoming Conditions and Outlooks Monthly Webinar. Likewise, high-quality weather and conditions data are collected daily through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), which makes forecasting information more robust for everyone.

Monthly webinar

While short-term forecasts looking to the next 24 or 48 hours are helpful for daily updates, many planning tasks on the farm and ranch need a larger scope.

University of Wyoming (UW) Extension partners with the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Riverton and Cheyenne offices, Wyoming State Climate Office, Wyoming Water Resources Data Systems, Wyoming State Engineer’s Office, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Reclamation and others to host the Wyoming Conditions and Outlooks Monthly Webinar.

The Wyoming Conditions and Outlooks Monthly Webinar is held regularly on the third Thursday of the month at 1 p.m. To be added to the e-mail list and receive an invitation to register, contact UW Extension Educator Callie Surber at csurber@uwyo.edu. 

In each webinar, guest speakers outline current conditions throughout Wyoming, including departures from average temperatures, precipitation and stream flows in the previous month. 

These factors all contribute to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) status, so attendees gain a better understanding of how conditions are shaping this important tool. 

Then, staff from NWS offices in Wyoming provide a near-term weather forecast. The Riverton and Cheyenne offices both contribute, depending on availability from month to month.

Each webinar concludes with a highlight of the month, which typically focuses on a water- or weather-related topic relevant to Wyoming. 

Past highlights of the month included Grass-Cast from the USDA Climate Hub, the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) tool, the Western Water Assessment Dashboard and the Wyoming-Montana Drought Viewer from USGS.

These tools provide data to aid in decision-making, especially for building grazing plans and determining water availability for irrigation.

Recordings of these monthly webinars can be viewed on UW Extension’s YouTube channel at bit.ly/WY-conditions-25 or at drought.wyo.gov. 

CoCoRaHS

A common piece of feedback received from webinar attendees is the drought monitor and/or conditions maps do not match on-the-ground conditions for a particular location. 

These tools are created using the best data available, and yet there are gaps around the state where data are difficult to capture or access. Community volunteers can help fill these gaps.

CoCoRaHS is a community science project which captures real time, on-the-ground precipitation and conditions data. These data directly inform the USDM and drought condition status for a specific location. 

For more information about CoCoRaHS, visit bit.ly/CoCoRaHS-about. 

The basic premise of CoCoRaHS is a group of volunteers who observe and report daily precipitation where they live. Individual data points are pieced together to more accurately describe individual weather events and general trends in precipitation. 

A lot of variation occurs in a single storm – rainfall totals are another popular coffee shop conversation topic.

There are also options within the CoCoRaHS system to report local conditions, evapotranspiration and soil moisture levels for folks who want to engage at this level. This is a way to contribute observations of how local weather is impacting rangelands, forage, garden crops, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation in communities.

Participating is simple. Create a free online account and acquire a four-inch standard rain gauge. The author can assist with any of these steps as needed. 

The CoCoRaHS team has created excellent training videos to go over best practices for making observations, which can be viewed at bit.ly/CoCoRaHS-training.

Most farmers and ranchers already closely monitor precipitation and conditions on their operations, so using CoCoRaHS is a way to communicate this information to experts who use it to develop better forecasts, which in turn help farmers and ranchers make decisions on their operations.

Wyoming weather is notorious for being unpredictable and extreme. Join the next Wyoming Conditions and Outlooks Monthly Webinar or consider joining CoCoRaHS to have the inside scoop at the next coffee shop weather conversation. 

Micah Most is an agriculture and natural resources educator with UW Extension serving Johnson County and northeast Wyoming. He can be reached at mmost@uwyo.edu.