It is important to note that the forecast is only a guidance product. Forecasts are subject to change, and conditions could vary significantly based on numerous external factors. Actual animal response to temperature stress will depend on several factors not accounted for in the index. Those include but are not limited to age, hair coat (winter vs. summer; wet vs. dry), health, body condition, micro-environment, and acclimatization. Additionally, recent moisture can result in mud, increasing livestock stress levels.
Important note: The National Weather Service forecasts hourly average values rather than extremes. In addition, fluctuations in cloud cover (which affects solar radiation) and wind speed have a large effect on comfort levels. Producers should recognize that localized conditions may be significantly warmer/cooler than the predicted comfort index.
Tracking Conditions with Current Data
One of the most basic ways to verify a forecast is to look at current conditions. The original Animal Comfort product remains to allow producers to see the real-time weather stress at the nearest Mesonet location. This displays both the current data up to (fifteen-minute intervals).
Users can scroll down the page and view the previous seven days' hourly data on the “Chart”. This is particularly useful for producers that suffered loss and want to capture the conditions that took place in the previous week. You can also download the data in a comma-delimited form for use in Excel or similar software. This can be found under the “Download” tab.
No historical data download is available beyond the last seven days, so this information must be captured quickly.
The displayed data does not account for conditions relative to “normal.” Solar radiation, wind, and humidity data are hard to put into a climatological (or long-term) perspective since recorded data is relatively new (only about 15 years of data at most stations). Thus, climatological data are limited for the animal comfort index. If you need historical data, please contact our staff at Kansas-wdl@ksu.edu, and we’d be glad to pull older data that may exist.
If you want to read more about the Forecast or Current Conditions pages, please visit https://mesonet.ksu.edu/agriculture/animal and scroll down to the “Resources” tab.