Weather radar anxiety

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
northeastlawn
Posts: 1259
Joined: June 1st, 2015, 3:10 pm
Location: S.E. Mass.
Grass Type: KBG
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Experienced

Re: Weather radar anxiety

Post by northeastlawn » July 14th, 2020, 4:24 pm

I have a patch of disease popping up and the lawn looked like it needed water, so I set the timer to water this morning.

I wake up check the phone, and weather underground was predicting 0.75". I cursed myself for not checking the weather and watering the night before a day that was going to be so muggy the lawn would never dry out.

It's around 4pm and every single thunder storm went right by us with out a drop of rain.

Lawndog
Posts: 221
Joined: March 24th, 2009, 1:32 pm
Location: Southeastern Ma
Grass Type: Front: KBG (Midnight II, Moonlight & Prosperity), Back: Blueberry KBG
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Weather radar anxiety

Post by Lawndog » July 23rd, 2020, 10:48 am

Don't know where you guys live in S.E. Mass but I haven't got anything around my area in S.E. Mass. for quite awhile.

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ken-n-nancy
Posts: 2571
Joined: July 17th, 2014, 3:58 pm
Location: Bedford, NH
Grass Type: Front: KBG (Bewitched+Prosperity); Side: Bewitched KBG; Back: Fine Fescue Blend + Prosperity
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Experienced

Re: Weather radar anxiety

Post by ken-n-nancy » July 23rd, 2020, 11:39 am

Summer forecasts of "spot showers" or "scattered thunderstorms" are tough. The forecasts tend to be for the "wet places" -- the ones that actually get the showers or thunderstorms. However, due to the way these work, the actual rainfall maybe only gets to about 30% or so of the land area in a town. It makes it very difficult to base watering decisions on forecasts.

Accordingly, as I think I already mentioned earlier in this thread, I've taken to only basing my watering decisions on actual rainfall. Last night at about 10pm, it started raining heavily outside, so I went to the garage and turned off the irrigation system for the night. This morning, I dumped 1+5/8" of rain out of the old-school rain gauge we have. I then made a note in my lawn log to turn the irrigation controller back on in three days. No need for me to worry about it until then...

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MorpheusPA
Posts: 18129
Joined: March 5th, 2009, 7:32 pm
Location: Zone 6 (Eastern PA)
Grass Type: Elite KBG
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Advanced

Re: Weather radar anxiety

Post by MorpheusPA » July 23rd, 2020, 12:10 pm

...whereas we were forecast for almost an inch and got 0.3". That's fine and I don't irrigate, but it was a wee bit of a disappointment.

Fortunately, more rain is possible today and it seems to be gearing up already.

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