Forecast Vs Actual Crop Evap

@mckynzee - I think what @Bizza is questioning is the forecasted Crop Evapotransipiration is four times what was logged as actual on the prior days (see May 28 forecasted of .20 versus May 27 .05). @Bizza, out of curiosity what does the mositure level for the side lawn look like now? I’d like to see how the forecasted values for the 28th and 29th compared to what actually happened.

@DLane Agreed, I would be interested to see what they turned out to be. I got distracted by the weather station data… :nerd:

Hi @mckynzee & @DLane ,

Thanks for looking into this.

Below is the summary of the past weather, and the updated moisture levels.

The 28th & 29th Evap actuals ended up being 0.05 & 0.08. I was surprised at the 0.08 as that was an overcast and rainy day. The 0.05 days have been clear sunny days, so I would expect these Crop Evap to be higher.

The lawns and gardens had not been watered since the 6th May, so they where starting to look dry, hence I gave them a water yesterday. That is why I started to look at what was happening with the flex schedule.

I had a look at what a monthly flex schedule would do, and this suggested watering every 4 days. This would align with what the forecast crop evep. is estimating. I am thinking the daily flex schedule is not working as intended.


Here is the more of the history, if this helps.

Hi @mckynzee,

Have you been able to check if my Crop Evap. is reporting properly? My Actual Crop Evap is still reporting only 0.05cm for each day, even with different weather conditions. The forecast crop evap is 0.10 - 0.15cm.

Thanks.

I might be wrong, but could this be a metric units conversion problem? 1 in = 2.5 cm, which is similar to the ratio of forecast to actual ET (i.e. 0.13/0.05 = 2.6) 0.05cm is only 0.02 inches which seems low for ET.

Thanks @jkb.

@mckynzee, can you look into this please?

I found the below ET figures from the Australian BOM. If the Crop ET = ET x Crop coefficient, then my Crop ET is not recording properly.

Looking at these figures, the forecast Crop ET provided by Rachio looks to be a good forecast.

@mckynzee, can you please have a look at this???

Hey @Bizza-

I am going to have our development team look into the data your schedule is receiving from the weather station to determine if the issue is on that side or if we are receiving it incorrectly. Will report back.

McKynzee :rachio:

Hi @mckynzee

Here are the latest ET’s from Sydney Airport which is close by to check with the PWS data.

@mckynzee, any feedback from support yet?

Hi @mckynzee & @franz ,

Just read the below thread about PWS not sending UV data. I am using the WU to PWS setup. Could this be the reason the “Acutal ET” is not being reported correctly?

Hi @mckynzee,

I just changed my weather station to YSSY (Sydney Airport), to see if there was any change. I haven’t used this station before because it does not record rain.

When I changed to YSSY, my Actual ET changed to figures that are inline with my manual calculations. So this issue must be related to the weather station.

Do you have suggestions in regards to the weather stations?

Hi @Bizza-

After reviewing your station, it actually looks like the data was coming in correctly, and just looks like your station is reporting almost exactly the same ET every day. I can send you the CSV if you have any interest, the vary slightly each day, but since we round the number, it displays the same every day. I would recommend staying on the new station, it seems like the PWS is just not reliable.

McKynzee

Thanks @mckynzee,

Can you send me the CSV, I would be interested in viewing it.

When you say to stay on the new station, are you referring to YSSY, or the PWS (Maroubra)? The YSSY does not record rain, but looks like the ET is correct. The PWS maroubra, I just changed the WU site that it feeds from to one that reports solar UV, and I am waiting to see if this one reports ET correctly as per the ET figures from the BOM.

I will DM it for you now @Bizza :slight_smile:

I would stay away from PWS maroubra- this is the one reporting very low and consistent ET. However, I am nervous about the YSSY not reporting any precipitation. Do you have any other options available to you?

Hi @mckynzee,

I am checking other stations around me, and using other WU stations to feed into PWS maroubra to see if there are any better options.

I have changed to a Monthly Flex schedule now. Will this use the ET data from the PWS for climate skip?

It will not- it will use historical ET data. My only concern is some countries don’t provide the historical data we need- let me check Australia for you…

It’s looking like we don’t have any historical data from Australia, so your interval is not going to effectively adjust on flex monthly. Let’s see if we can’t find a more reliable station so that we can get you back onto Flex Daily!

I appreciate the help. The reason for buying Rachio was for the flex daily.

If you can help with the station that would be great, otherwise I will select different ones and see what data I get over a few days.