Precipitation Data

MuskegMan

Active Member
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Most would say good moisture leads to good plant grow leads to good antler development. Drought is bad.

So, do folks look at precipitation data when you apply? I've been using the NOAA precipitation page for quite a few years now.

http://water.weather.gov/precip/

I generally look at the 90 and 180 day trends and especially the percent-of-normal charts to see how things have been going. It looks like the units I've applied for in NE Nevada have been getting above normal precip at elevation, so hopefully I'll draw and it'll be a good year.

Just sharing intell and wondering how much consideration guys give to moisture in the mountains and soil.
 
Muskeg, I'll post the URL for Colorado Snotel sites which are more accurate data than say ski area reports. The SWE, snow water equivalent is more accurate than the snow depths which can be erratic after storms (the sensors get blocke with rime/snow. There are other snotel sites nationally outside of Colorado too.

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Colorado/colorado.html

Check out the "Tower' site northeast of Steamboat, it's the snowiest spot in Colorado by a lot.
 
I use the US Drought monitor:

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Some of the older models like the Palmer Drought Severity Index do not take accurately measure the amount of water in snow. So, if your model uses the PDSI, it is likely inaccurate. I live in NE Nevada and I can say some areas are looking pretty good, while other areas are looking pretty bad.
 
Some researchers believe the moisture and quality of forage from last summer and last fall are more important to antler growth than winter snow and spring rain because they believe antler growth is more dependent on the condition of the animal before it goes into the winter and whether it has energy left to push out extra antler in the spring and early summer. I have not idea if that's factual but you might give that some consideration as well.

DC
 

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