NEWA (Northeast Weather Association) 2003: A Year in Review

NEWA maintained the electronic weather network in the 2003 growing season with support from NEWA members and the New York State IPM Program. As a result of the free subscriptions provided by the IPM Program in 2003, NEWA usage rose an additional 7% compared to 2002 when it rose 84% as a result of the first announcement of the free service. The number of people receiving NEWA information is much larger than that measured by web hits since information from NEWA is used in crop updates and Extension newsletters. The National Weather Service provides weather forecasts for the network and continues to provide new forecast products that NEWA makes available on the web site. The Northeast Regional Climate Center continued to provide links to evapotranspiration maps based on data from the cooperative network. In addition, in 2003, the Climate Center provided daily ET information from several of the NEW A sites that are capable of supplying the necessary data needed in the ET calculations and also from sites in the cooperative network. Two loggers were upgraded with wind and solar measurements and that data could be used for evapotranspiration information. One new site was added to the network in 2003 in Tioga County. Degree day forecasts based on weather forecasts were also provided for the first time