Greetings from Athens, GA! I am happy to join the group of contributors to the Garden Professors blog. My name is Pam Knox, and I am an agricultural climatologist in Extension at the University of Georgia as well as the Director of the UGA Weather Network and a former State Climatologist from Wisconsin. While I don’t claim to be an expert in gardening, I do know a thing or two about how weather and climate affect plants and hope to share some of that expertise with you over time. You can learn a little more about me from my bio on the blog page.
If you really like learning more about weather, climate, and agriculture, you are welcome to visit my own blog page, “On the CASE—Climate and Agriculture in the SouthEast” at https://site.extension.uga.edu/climate/, where I post almost daily about stories that have caught my eye as well as climate summaries and outlooks for the southeastern US. I plan to post on the Garden Professors blog here about once a month and am happy to answer questions at any time at pknox@uga.edu.
A simple way to compare temperatures around your yard
For my first post, I thought I would talk a little bit more about the weather in your yard and how you can learn more about it. As gardeners, you probably spend more time in your yards than I usually do, and so you have noticed that the climate of your yard or field can vary quite a bit from one spot to another. We call that “microclimate” and if you search this blog for that term, you will find several articles about microclimates in previous years, so I won’t spend a lot of time on that here.
One easy and inexpensive way to measure how temperature varies across your domain is to use an infrared thermometer to spot-check the temperature at a variety of locations. These thermometers are used a lot now to check forehead temperatures in the age of COVID, but they are also used by HVAC technicians to check heating and air conditioning, for example. You can find inexpensive ones selling for less than $20 online, and many hardware stores have them, too. You will be amazed how much difference there is in temperature between sunny and shady locations! Don’t forget to try it at night too to see how much tree canopy can affect night-time temperatures. Of course, if you want a more systematic and scientific approach, you can follow Linda Chalker-Scott’s experience using multiple min-max thermometers as described in http://gardenprofessors.com/microclimate-follow-up/.
CoCoRaHS: Precipitation measurements by citizen scientists
One of the many things I do is to serve as a regional coordinator for CoCoRaHS, short for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network. This is a group of dedicated citizen scientists who take daily rainfall measurements and report them online via computer or smartphone as part of a nationwide (and now international) network of precipitation observers. Theses observations are used by the National Weather Service, drought monitors, water supply managers, and others to document local variations in rainfall at a much denser scale than other available observing networks. I am sure that some of the readers of this blog are already contributing! You can learn more about the network and how to sign up at https://www.cocorahs.org/. Please keep in mind that they do require the use of a particular scientific rain gauge, so a hardware store gauge is not likely to have the degree of accuracy that is needed to participate. A list of inexpensive vendors (costs start around $40 plus shipping) can be found on their site in the right column. By measuring precipitation at your house, you are not only monitoring your own conditions but contributing to our knowledge of water availability around the US and beyond.
I am looking forward to interacting with you all in the months ahead, and please feel free to contact me if you have specific weather or climate questions.
Thank you so much. You know you inspire us with ideas how to handle it on our end. Here in Europe.
Love your insights.
Great information on my favorite subject, other than horticulture and arboriculture at least. I have kept weather records since 5th grade, 1975. I have been a CoCoRaHS observer (Cheviot OH 3.4W) since 2010 and am now a National Weather Service Co-op observer (Cheviot OH 3W). As an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist I tell my clients that their plants don’t care how much rain fell at the airport. Your points on microclimate are spot on as well. Big difference between the north and south side of the house. I have been a student of microclimates for years. Great perspectives.
I frequently find garden scheduling advice from garden columns, seed companies and even Master Gardeners linking frost dates and hardiness zones. My experience and training suggest otherwise, but I know enough to know I’m no expert. I do training for new master gardeners in 3 counties; what should I tell them?
Hi Gary –
Can you explain what specific problems you are seeing? USDA hardiness zones are legitimate, and frost dates are generally derived from weather databases. Thanks!