Just five mm of precipitation and a record sun hours

February was an exceptionally wet and stormy month. The total precipitation sum was 107 millimeters on average, compared to an average of 58 millimeters which is considered normal for the second month of the year. The dairy farmers participating in the Roughage tour became restless. It could be a late spring, with delayed fertilization for the first cut. In March, the surplus of rainwater completely turned around to a precipitation deficit. March was exceptionally dry with a total precipitation amount to date of 5 millimeters. And sun, lots and lots of sun.

All ten dairy farmers participating in the Roughage tour have been provided with a weather post of AgroExact, so that many weather data such as wind, temperature and humidity at 150 cm, precipitation and wind chill can be compared with each other. Time to take a look at the current state of four participants of the Roughage Tour: the data from the weather stations in Leeuwarden/Jelsum (Jan-Dirk Ubels), Aartswoud (Frank Rooker), Udenhout (Hans Schoenmakers) and Beerzeveld (Jan Henk Waterink) are analysed.

Nowhere more than five millimeters
The stations show that no more than five millimeters has fallen at all four measuring points over the past four weeks. 

Precipitation last four weeks

The table shows that Jelsum has had the most precipitation. Udenhout had the least precipitation with 0,4 millimeters. The difference in precipitation is largely due to the fact that there were four days with precipitation in Jelsum and three or fewer days in the other places. There has been no precipitation in Udenhout since March 17. Joost van Nostrum, participant from Sint-Oedenrode (located about 30 kilometers from Udenhout as the crow flies), indicated on 17 March that gardeners and nurserymen were already irrigating in that week. 

Big differences in temperatures with occasional moderate frosts

The table shows how temperatures have developed over the past four weeks. It is interesting that in Beerzeveld there has been a frost day for as many as 17 of the 28 days. A day is considered a frost day when the temperature - often at night - has been below zero degrees. In Udenhout there were 13 frosty days and an average temperature of 7,3 degrees. In Aartswoud there was the least number of frost days, namely five. The lowest measured temperature was 1,8 degrees. This is more than two degrees warmer than in Leeuwarden, where the lowest measured minimum temperature of -4,9 degrees was recorded. On average, the temperature in Beerzeveld and Leeuwarden is equally low: 6,3 degrees. The average temperature in Udenhout and Aartswoud was the same: 7,3. 

The multi-year average between 1991 and 2020 shows that an average amount of 53 millimeters is normal. This again shows how dry the past month has been with an average of only 5 millimeters. The average number of so hours is normally 146 hours. The table below shows what the measuring stations measured at the participants:

The most hours of sunshine have been measured in Aartswoud: 329,9. The least number of hours of sunshine was in Leeuwarden: 235,4 hours. Compared to the normal of 146 hours of sunshine for March, the sun was therefore exceptionally often seen. The average of the four monitoring stations was 284,2 hours of sunshine, which means 138 hours more sunshine than normal. The highest number of hours of sunshine measured was in 1991: 202,7. The average of the four companies of the Roughage Tour was therefore also considerably higher than the national record from 1991. 

From concerns about water to concerns about drought
While there were regular concerns in February about the large amount of water that fell, there are now voices about concerns about the drought. For example, Silvain Kusters from Guttecoven (L): "If it doesn't rain soon, I don't think it will do much after the first cut. I haven't had any decent rainfall here for a month so I'll stay off the corn country for the time being but nice." Sander Vijverberg from Strijen (ZH) also says: "Rain is becoming a must now". Robert Welhuis from Wapse (Dr) is not yet afraid of drought. He says: "The color of the grass is a lot better, there is no moisture deficiency yet". Welhuis means by the color of the grass that it had turned fairly brown after the night frosts at the beginning of this month. The brown glow has now been exchanged for a beautiful green color. 

Precipitation and even snow is expected for the next few days. 

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