Missouri State > University Communications > Campus Resources > News Releases > February 2008 > News Release

SPRINGFIELD — Growers, gardeners and anyone interested in weather in south central Missouri now have a new resource that will give them nearly up-to-the-minute weather conditions. No thermometers, barometers or weather vanes required. Just a simple click of the mouse.

 

Missouri State University-Mountain Grove is offering a “real time” weather station on the Web that displays weather information from the State Fruit Experiment Station. The site (http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/realtime/mountainGrove.asp) is updated every five minutes and lists air temperature, wind chill, dew point, humidity, wind speed, soil temperature, precipitation, max-mins, as well as other useful information – including archives of the weather information back to Oct. 27, 2007.

 

“The soil temperature information will be a help to growers in knowing when to plant seed,” said John Avery, the national weather cooperator for the National Weather Service and field supervisor at the State Fruit Experiment Station. “For example, sweet corn typically needs a soil temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate properly. By looking at the site, you can see if the conditions are right.”

 

The real-time weather at Mountain Grove is made possible through support from the University of Missouri’s department of soil, environmental and atmospheric sciences and Missouri State-Mountain Grove.

 

“We are very happy to be able to make this information available to our community and are grateful for the support of John Travlos, University of Missouri Extension employee, in getting this off the ground,” said Dr. Anson Elliott, director of the State Fruit Experiment Station.

 

The site can also be accessed from the Missouri State-Mountain Grove homepage, http://mtngrv.missouristate.edu/.