Weather Data

Our weather page offers maps and data for temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and solar insolation, derived from NOAA daily grids and satellite observations. We use Space Science's insolation model to derive estimates of solar radiation from satellite imagery. Combined with atmospheric data from Unidata's Internet Data Distribution project, this allows us to calculate reference evapotranspiration via the Priestley-Taylor equation to derive soil moisture and inform irrigation decisions.

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Thermal Models

The thermal models page contains links to the VDIFN web app, degree-day maps and data, an Oak Wilt risk model for minimizing disease risk when pruning or harvest oak, and several pages on information and degree day models for common insect pests.

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Site Data and Email Subscriptions

While our weather data can be accessed from the individual weather, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and insolation pages in the weather tab, these site pages provide a convenient dashboard for accessing the past week's weather data for any single point within our data coverage area. You can bookmark these pages for quick access, or add them to your saved sites in the subscribers page. Currently only weather data is presented on the site pages, but we have plans to add degree days and other relevant information in the future.

Vegetable Disease & Insect Forecasting Network (VDIFN)

Visual map-based interface to view disease risk models, insect developmental models, and degree-day accumulation in Wisconsin and surrounding states. This is the newest and most advanced tool we have available for tracking degree day accumulations across the Upper Midwest and generating disease risk and insect pest pressure predictions.

Irrigation Scheduling Program (WISP)

An online irrigation scheduling application is available to calculate the allowable-depletion balance. The tool automatically pulls weather, precipitation, evapotranspiration, degree day data where coverage exists, but any values can be manually updated if you have an on-site weather station. The program was developed by Dr. John Panuska of UW Extension/UW-Madison Biological Systems Engineering and Dr. John Norman, UW-Madison Soil Science.

Weather Data API

All of the weather data accessible on this site can also be accessed via our API for free. A description of the API endpoints can be found at the link above. These endpoints are subject to change so if you are using this data in an application please contact us to let us know and we will keep you in the loop about any API changes.

About this site

This site is currently managed by the Vegetable Entomology lab in the Department of Entomology at UW-Madison. Feel free to contact us with inquiries, feature requests, or bug reports at agweather@cals.wisc.edu.