The weather has been quite variable over the past month and the record heat last month finally signaled the beginning of the irrigation season. Despite the rain this past weekend, the forecast (shown above) is for mostly dry and above normal temperatures over the next few weeks and we have thus turned on most irrigation systems. http://www.pacscape.com/irrigation

We monitor weather data to ensure we are making the best decisions for when to start and how much to water. To make these decisions, we rely on local weather stations that track rainfall and E.T. (Evapotranspiration - the amount of water used by plants and/or evaporated). This is the data that the Weather Based Controller use. We take the same data and chart to keep our foreman informed as to the true irrigation need, below is the graph of our current weather and irrigation need. The rain bucket is an estimate of the available water in the soil while irrigation need is when that moisture is depleted and irrigation is needed to replenish. This has been a great tool for us to use to make accurate irrigation decisions. There are exceptions to this data based on differing site conditions but this is a good tool for us to be as accurate as possible and modify per site conditions.