Did You Know UF/IFAS Has Its Own Weather Network?

By Rick Lusher

The Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) was established in 1998 in response to the discontinuation of the National Weather Service (NWS) agricultural weather forecast products.  What began as a network of 11 Cooperative Extension Service sites in Lake and Orange counties is now a statewide system of 41 sites located from Homestead to Jay, near Pensacola. Data are collected from each site every 15 minutes and, along with several calculated products and weather-related tools, are delivered to the public by way of the Internet. 

Navigating the Homepage
The FAWN Homepage shows a map of the state of Florida with the current air temperature displayed at each FAWN station, with different shaded areas to show higher (oranges and reds) and lower (greens and blues) values.  There are also links to various data access methods, data products, and tools.   FAWN also posts system status updates via Twitter.

Additional current measurements and a local National Weather Service (NWS) forecast can be viewed by rolling your mouse over the temperature at any station – Citra, indicated by the red circle, is shown below.  You can also select different map views by selecting the links to the left of the map, Wet Bulb Temp, for example.

FAWN’s mission: provide timely 

and accurate weather data 

to a wide variety of users.

Even More Data

Along the left side of the Homepage, there are several ways to access information.  For example, you can view RADAR images and loops from each NWS Florida RADAR.

You can use Graphic Weather Data to view recent data on a graph, and easily see how temperatures, for example, are changing over time.

If numbers are your thing, you can use Latest Observations to view data from all stations in a table.

Your Weather Toolkit

While FAWN has access to lots of data, we also do a lot of calculations for farmers and homeowners alike.  These can be found in the Tools menu in the green bar at the top of the Homepage.

As you can see above, we have tools for cold protection, irrigation, and climate, as well as several miscellaneous tools.  

All FAWN resources are available free-of-charge at the FAWN website. If you are into weather data and weather related information, especially in Florida, FAWN is the place for you.  Thanks for checking out this quick overview, and please be sure to check future blog posts for a more detailed look at our data products and tools. 

On the Leak-sticle Beat With Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit

In journalist parlance, the listicle is an article written in list form. You’ve probably read a couple in the past few days. Popularized by online publications and an effective means for addressing a variety of topics under a common theme, the listicle is here to stay.

Here at the IrriGator blog we are nothing if not pioneers. So I give you our first attempt at a “leak-sticle,” a listicle about leaks in urban landscape irrigation systems! And for motivating this venture I must acknowledge some colleagues in South Florida.

Will it float? The answer is yes.

Recently, UF/IFAS Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit (U.C.U.) used Facebook to recap some of the most egregious leaks and breaks they’ve encountered in the field thus far this year. The spectrum (many pictured here) runs from extravagant geysers and sloppy gushers to the subterranean and obscured. In all cases, however, there is a combination of issues that contribute to this kind of system disrepair and water waste. I spoke with the U.C.U. to get additional insight about these top leaks and arrive at some conclusions on how to avoid these kinds of disasters.

Who is the U.C.U.? Jesus Lomeli and Laura Vasquez

Wet Checks – Conduct Them Regularly

A wet check (or walk through) is when you or your irrigation professional turn on the system and walk the irrigated areas to look for leaks, clogs or other irregularities. You cannot do a wet check on a system and miss these colossal breaks!

Wet checks help detect both subtle and more apparent system issues

“This is typical. This is what we see out there,” said Laura Vasquez, FYN Coordinator and U.C.U. member, in reference to the images. “We recommend everyone take time to walk through the system at least once a month and get involved with the maintenance of your system. It’s automated, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to run perfectly every time it turns on.”

Technology – Where Possible, Use It

Smart, wireless and in the cloud - we are all about better living through technology today. So how does this apply to irrigation? With respect to leaks, U.C.U. technician Jesus Lomeli suggests flow sensors.

An example of a wireless flow sensor

“A flow sensor connects to your timer and system mainline and can detect leaks (an imbalance in the flow rate) and will shut off a zone until someone comes to service the break. These work for large property and residential property systems.”

According to Mr. Lomeli, some timers can also send alerts via text or email when the flow sensor notes a problem, so someone is made aware of the maintenance issue. Because, as Mr. Lomeli underscored in our conversation, awareness is critical. 

Curbside appeal? Not exactly

"In most instances with these locations, the property managers were not aware of the leaks, and if they were, there was no hurry to repair things. Some timers were even scheduled to run every day. If this kind of water loss was happening indoors, inside a property, it would have been dealt with immediately.”

Design – Hydrozone and Low Flow

What was starkly obvious to me in this collection of top leak images was the underlying contribution of poor system design. Many of these breaks happened on risers or on high-volume spray heads in shrub and ornamental landscape areas. 

Everything shrubs: an ideal area for drip line irrigation 

This is not the proper way to irrigate such plant life. Shrub areas need to be on their own irrigation zone separate from turf areas (hydrozoning) and should be watered using drip line or micro-sprays (low volume). You can't break a spray head that doesn’t exist.

What even is this image? Water waste!

To Be Continued…

Since these leak images are part of a Facebook album, there are plans to add more as they are gruesomely encountered in the field, providing additional opportunities for everyone to learn from bad management practices.

“So far this program year we’ve seen 89 single family homes and 34 large properties,” Mr. Lomeli said.

Resuscitating your system this summer? Take a lesson from EPA WaterSense

And now that everyone has a renewed interest in irrigation rebates and recommendations in the climbing South Florida temperatures, the U.C.U. is sure to stay in the field and busy into fall.

Meet New Statewide UF/IFAS Master Gardener Coordinator Wendy Wilber

The Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology recently named Alachua County environmental horticulture agent Wendy Wilber statewide coordinator for the UF/IFAS Master Gardener Program.

Center Stage

As is the wont of master gardeners, last week Ms. Wilber was a featured speaker at Disney EPCOT’s International Flower and Garden Festival. To audiences throughout the day, she instructed on plant propagation - demonstrating several resourceful and inexpensive methods for multiplying plants.

Wendy Wilber demonstrates how to divide a mondo grass bunch

“People want to learn how to share plants. It’s a great way to keep a special plant growing,” Ms. Wilber said. “Propagation is a topic that gardeners want to know about. It’s a little bit more of an advanced topic, but it’s a good skill for them to have.”

Using color in the landscape at the International Flower and Garden Festival

“Florida is at an interesting time right now, 

and master gardeners are uniquely poised 

to bring good Florida-Friendly landscaping 

information to the public.”

-Wendy Wilber

The Festival

The International Flower and Garden Festival is an annual Disney EPCOT event showcasing landscaping practices for beautification and sustainability. This year features Illuminated Gardens, a butterfly area and over a dozen Disney-themed topiaries scattered throughout.

Yes, you can be colorful and Florida-Friendly

One of more than a dozen Disney-themed topiaries (image by Michael Dukes)

Edibles are a great addition to any Florida garden

Ms. Wilber noted that the event expertly captures the gardening pulse of the moment. “You can always see the trends here at the EPCOT festival. Right now the edible trend is hot. Raise beds. Hydroponics. Those are all featured in the idea and discovery gardens. People can take these ideas back home and if they have problems they can contact their local master gardeners.”

Rain Thoughts: A Springtime Tale of Field Work, Classrooms, and Cynthia Barnett

Last weekend I attended the local book launch event for Cynthia Barnett’s new book Rain: A Natural and Cultural History.

April Showers...

This has been an especially insightful spring for me. First, thanks to Ms. Barnett, I got back into the rhythm of the classroom for the first time in decades. She allowed me to sit in on her inaugural Environmental Journalism course for the School of Journalism. As a Hearst Visiting Professional, Ms. Barnett will also be teaching in the fall.

Only four months away and highly recommended (image by Jennifer Adler)

Second, despite an almost overwhelming amount of field work on our most recent project, water quality-focused and Live Oak-situated (watch for a blog entry soon)...

NFREC Project: yes the dimensions are this big x 2

...I still found time to realize some good media-work ideas. Namely, a short audio interview of Ms. Barnett recorded earlier this year (by graduate student Mackenzie Boyer) in hopes of previewing both the environmental journalism course and the now published book. Listen to it here.

It's Raining Content

Publishing day for Rain fell on April 21^st. And for us Cynthia Barnett admirers, the days surrounding the release offered a king’s ransom in great content! Some of which included a New York Times book review, a profile in the Gainesville Sun, a fascinating, hour-long book discussion on WBUR’s On Point Radio and a Wall Street Journal piece by Ms. Barnett exploring rain, stormwater infrastructure and Los Angeles.

The Arid Lands Institute at Woodbury 

University in Burbank, Calif., estimates that

 L.A.’s massive flood-control system shunts

 some 520,000 acre-feet of rainfall to

 the Pacific Ocean each year—enough

 to supply water to perhaps a

 half million families.

Cynthia Barnett; "To Fight the Drought, L.A. Needs a Rain Revolution"

Cynthia Barnett signs books at First Magnitude Brewery

In all honesty, I am not in the habit of being around, much less taking a class with, a writer I consider a giant of the craft. This spring has been one of the experiences of my time in Gainesville I will treasure most.

Final session of @UFJSchool's Enviro Journalism course. What a joy it has been learning w/ @cynthiabarnett. #EJUF pic.twitter.com/HMqBdJayxe

— Michael G (@waterparatodos) April 20, 2015

Applying Audience Segmentation to Water Conservation Activities in the Home Landscape: Implications for Extension Programming

Laura A. Warner and Alexa Lamm

Faculty in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication are always looking for ways we can increase the effectiveness of UF/IFAS Extension water conservation programming. Since we know that a “one size fits all” approach is not the most effective strategy, we recommend incorporating principles of audience segmentation to Extension programming. 

Getting Specific
Audience segmentation is an approach to changing public behaviors where Extension audiences are divided into meaningful subgroups and programming is strategically delivered based on a specific group’s needs. This is a great strategy for UF/IFAS Extension to focus our limited resources and remain relevant to our stakeholders’ diverse needs, interests, and motivations while encouraging change that benefits water supply and quality in our state.

Figure 2. People who live in Homeowners' Association may have different needs and prefer different approaches to conserving water. Photo: B. Warner

In the case of home landscape water conservation, an Extension agent could divide the residential audience into subgroups based on their values, the way they like to learn about water, how likely they are to adopt water-savings technologies and practices, or by how much water they currently use. A segmented Extension approach might target subgroups of residents who are most likely to adopt a water-saving device, or might target those people who use the most water. By targeting specific audiences we hope to make the greatest differences with the groups having the largest negative impact or the potential to make the largest positive difference.

Ongoing Work
A research project is currently underway to help us better understand Florida residents who use landscape irrigation, an important target audience for water conservation programming. This project is a collaboration between the UF Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology (CLCE), the UF Center for Public Issues Education (PIE), and faculty from both the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication and Family, Youth and Consumer Sciences. Funding was provided by the CLCE.

The purpose of this research is to learn about residents that use irrigation in their landscapes and look at meaningful ways to segment this audience into subgroups that may have different needs or respond differently to Extension programming methods. The results are being used to make recommendations for incorporating audience segmentation into Extension landscape water conservation programming.

Figure 2. People who live in Homeowners' Association may have different needs and prefer different approaches to conserving water. Photo: B. Warner

Initial findings show that approximately half of the residents who use irrigation reside in Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs). HOA dwellers were found to believe that they have less control over adopting good irrigation practices than people who don’t live in HOAs. These findings and many others are providing insight into this audience’s needs and preferences. Results indicate that there are meaningful differences between subgroups of this audience when they are divided based on their current landscape water conservation practices. One group who is characterized by engaging the most in water conservation practices also interacts the most with Extension. A moderate group who engages somewhat in landscape water conservation practices assigns a greater level of importance to clean water than the least engaged group, and is more likely to avoid purchasing plants that require a lot of water.

Read All About It
Detailed findings will be shared in a forthcoming UF/IFAS Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS) publication series, Encouraging Landscape Water Conservation Behaviors. This series is being developed to share research results and address promoting specific behaviors (adopting water-saving practices and technologies) to a specific target audience: Florida residents who irrigate their home landscapes.  These EDIS publications will provide information to help Florida Extension professionals to understand this target audience and guide more effective programming. Look for them as they are published here.

UF/IFAS Proudly Presents: Smartirrigation Avocado

Avocado has joined the ranks of important agricultural commodities in Florida with their own mobile irrigation app. Mobile apps for irrigation offer growers and homeowners convenient access to efficient irrigation scheduling and thus water savings. The newly released Smartirrigation (SI) Avocado, along with citrus, strawberry, vegetable and turf round out the Smartirrigation app suite for use in Florida. 

How does it work?

To use SI Avocado, the grower simply enters the irrigation system characteristics in the orchard. The app then estimates crop water demand and provides irrigation run times and event depths by considering: 

• orchard location 
• crop growth characteristics 
• weather parameters (rainfall, temperatures, relative humidity and wind speed) obtained from the nearest Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) station
• allowed watering days

Passing the savings on to you: a sample app-generated irrigation schedule

Of course, it would not be a proper app without push notifications, and SI Avocado offers growers a variety of alerts, such as:

• estimated water savings 
• changes to irrigation run times  
• weather forecast  
• when to turn off irrigation events 
• weekly reports about irrigation schedules

App-generated weather forecasts let you plan ahead

Does it work?

“The apps provide a 20 to 50% water savings, minimize nutrient leaching and provide energy savings due to short pump run times (thus less fuel) if recommendations of irrigation schedules are followed,” said Dr. Kati Migliaccio, Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida. “Water savings for the Avocado app are currently being evaluated in a study in Homestead, Florida, but are expected to be in the same range.”

The goal: maximize outputs, minimize inputs

Download today

SI Avocado is available for use with both iOS and Android devices and is tailored specifically for Florida and Georgia residents.

For more information on the app, contact: Dr. Kati Migliaccio.

Water and the Florida Public

At IrriGator we invest considerable time and resources into communicating research-based information on water-use and water management. Rare, however, is the opportunity to gauge how the public is receiving and digesting these efforts. Enter the UF/IFAS PIE Center’s annual Public Opinion of Water in Florida survey.

Gleanings

The Center’s survey polled 749 Florida residents on a number of water-related topics. The ensuing report paints a helpful picture about what the public knows and doesn't know and where messaging and communication can be improved or adjusted.  A sample of these findings include: 

• Water ranks 3rd, below health care and the economy, on a priority list of those surveyed
• Few of those surveyed felt water quality was getting better in any of Florida's water bodies
• 85% of those surveyed indicated they were likely/very likely to pay attention to a water news item
• 72% of those surveyed are willing to pay more for their water bills if it would ensure adequate water resources for Florida's future

When the chips are down

"I think the public generally understands

 water conservation when they are affected by it. 

That is, when they don’t have enough water, 

the importance hits home. Those affected 

by the drought in California right now 

would be a good example."

-Dr. Michael Dukes

In a recent interview for Landscape Management, Dr. Michael Dukes, director of the UF/IFAS Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology, addresses some aspects of successful water communication. Namely, context counts. When water scarcity is a factor, the public is generally more receptive to messaging. And in drought circumstances conservation messaging tends to saturate the media. 

Knowing what we don't know about what you think you know about water: an infographic

Further, Dr. Dukes also notes how the development of a water efficient ethic within the Green Industry coincided with implementation of water conserving programs, devices and codes at both the manufacturing and agency levels. There are advantages to being able to communicate important information from a non-crisis position.

Teachables

As someone whose work encompasses Extension and communication, the most useful gems among the Center’s survey results are Figure 33 and Figure 35. 

Extension? What's that? (courtesy: Public Opinions of Water in Florida)

For me, Fig. 33 (above) confirms the shortcomings of engaging the public by way of what are often understaffed, inadequately resourced and marginal channels throughout the state. On the other hand, Fig. 35 (below) is fraught with possibility, suggesting an accessible audience consuming content online - a multimedia platform today’s educators are well-versed in utilizing. 

See you on the interwebs (courtesy: Public Opinions of Water in Florida)

In a great article addressing the water survey, Jenny Adler of the UF Water Institute said it best: “We are given an incredible opportunity (which will also be a challenge) to share current water research and knowledge about water issues through these identified outlets.”

Webinars
The PIE Center recently hosted a webinar on water issues and the implications for agriculture featuring Dr. Kati Migliaccio and Dr. Alexa Lamm. View the webinar here.

The PIE Center recently hosted a webinar featuring Dr. Michael Dukes addressing the landscape water use aspects of the survey. View the webinar here.