A. Introduction

Serving the agriculture and economic needs of the State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Climate center consists of the State Climatologist, Dr. Ted Sammis, and a group of dedicated students that maintain an automated network of climate stations operated by New Mexico State University at its Agricultural Science centers; the Bureau of Land Management; the Natural Resource and Conservation Service and NOAA. The New Mexico Climate Center maintains a web site at http://weather.nmsu.edu that processes climate data daily and makes it available to the public. The students and the State Climatologist have developed the web site of 15 years and the tools on the web site present the data in the formats needed by the end users.

B. Purpose

The purpose of the state climatologist is to assist the state’s efforts to understand and respond to natural and man-induced climate processes to cooperate with federal government activities relating to climate studies and to promote and disseminate a general knowledge of the climatology of the state. Some of the duties of the State Climatologist are: assessing the effect of climate on the natural environment, agricultural production, land and natural resources and human health; coordinating climate impact studies and programs to more fully understand natural and man-induced climate processes, and the social and economic implications of climate changes; developing methods and procedures to enable interested state agencies and public institutions of higher education to participate in the climate-related programs; and disseminating climate data, information, advice and assessments to state agencies, local public bodies and the general public. These duties and the rest of the duties are spelled out in a state statue that created the office of state climatologist.

C. Significant Issues and Background

The state climatologist, Dr. Ted Sammis, is the first contact person for climatic information in the state. The State Climate Center has made significant impact on the lives of citizens through out the state for 25 years supplying the climatic information needs of industry, tourism, state agencies and private individual. The Climate Center and State Climatologist have contributed to the economic vitality of New Mexico and the bordering regions through applied research, development, and extension. Impacts to date include:

· More than 6000 requests for climate information are answered at the Internet web site per day. More than 300 requests are answered by phone and email each year.

· In addition to requests for climate data, the New Mexico Climate Center supplies information on irrigation scheduling of native, landscape, and commercial crops; heat and cooling degree-day calculation for the construction industry; economic irrigation software; and teaching material on soil and land use, instrumentation, and irrigation science.

· The New Mexico Climate Center is the official web site for the New Mexico Drought Task Force with information about current drought status and future climatic conditions.

· The New Mexico Climate Center provides web based tools that use climate data for calculating when to apply pesticides based on growing degree day models, reference evapotranspiration calculating climate data from the Federal Government.

· Researchers working with the Dr. Sammis developed water production functions (relationships between yield and crop water-use) and crop coefficients (for irrigation scheduling) for many crops including: Pecans, potatoes, corn, alfalfa, winter wheat, barley, pinto beans, canola, pasture grass, onions, chile peppers, tomatoes, and various turfgrass species. These functions can be used to assist in efficient irrigation management and in making important economic decisions related to water and crop production. This information could not be developed or used with out the climatic information on the New Mexico Climate Center web site.

· The New Mexico Climate Center collects daily climate data from 138 automated climate stations around the state including irrigation districts and NAPI (Navajo Agricultural Products Industry). The New Mexico Climate Center operates 27 of these stations.

D. Consequences if Not Funded

A large portion of New Mexico State University research programs center around crop improvement, pest control, and irrigation/water management research. Without the continuation of the State Climatology program, the climatic data would have to be collected by individual researchers with an increase in cost and a decrease in reliability. The State Climatology program was authorized by state law but never funded. The position of State Climatologist will terminate will the retiring of Dr. Sammis in 2006 and only if funds are available will a new State Climatologist be hired.

Dr. Sammis is currently funded to conduct research and teaching in the area of water use of crops. Being the state climatologist is an extra duty and not part of the job description for this position. The State Climatologist position needs to be a full time position to conduct all the duties specified in law. If not funded, the program will be terminated at the retirement of Dr. Sammis and the Agricultural Experiment Station resources reallocated to meet the teaching and research demands supplied by I&G in the Agronomy and Horticulture department.

Besides the disruption of research and teaching at the University that will occur when the program is terminated, the citizens of New Mexico will have no contact for getting climatic data needed to make decisions. The need for climate information has never been greater owing to New Mexico’s growing dependence on up-to-date assessment of water resources.

If the state climatology position is not funded than the citizens of New Mexico will not be able to get the information from other state or federal agencies. The expertise of the state climatologist is unique because the federal government hires meteorologist not climatologist to work at its national weather centers located in Albuquerque and Santa Teresa. That is the reason that the federal government encouraged the state in 1979 to create and hire a state climatologist.

Some of the questions by state constituents are:

Do you know of a web site that would show a detailed climate zone map? I am also looking for one that shows the aquifers so if you have any ideas of where to find this information it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Kimberly
My name is Jessica, and I'm an eighth grader at Peter. J. Palombi Middle School in Lake Villa, Illinois. My Climate Studies class has been studying some extreme weather conditions that have affected all fifty states, and that's why I'm writing to you. Could you, with all that you know about your state's climate, come up with a "Top 5" list of the most adverse weather conditions to affect your state?
We spoke on the phone yesterday concerning the records for weather conditions on Feb. 2, 2003 at 1300 hours. You advised me to email you so you could give me links to online weather data. Thank you for all your help, I appreciate it very much. Sincerely, Chris

I need a description of the rainfall, official or unofficial in Las Cruces and Anthony (if available) for December 7, 2002. Thanks for your help Kent

I am researching a fire, which occurred in Roswell on May 11, 2001 and would like to learn wind speed and direction on that date. Can you give me that information? Thank you, Tom
Some friends want to visit New Mexico in April time frame. What type of weather conditions can they expect? Thanks Robert
I am a researcher at Sandia National Labs. I have been searching for what I thought was easy to get data, but without any luck. I need to know the following: Total heating and cooling degree-days, (base 65F) for Alb in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. That is all I need. Can you provide these data? Thanks Dave

All of these questions and many more have been answered by the State Climatologist

E. Amount

The current request for this initiative is in the amount of $270,000 for the 2004 fiscal year. A recurrent appropriation will be requested beginning in the 2005 fiscal year. This will be made up of funds for staff, operations, and equipment:

Item	Request
State Climatologist, Ph.D.	75,000
Assistant State Climatologist	55,000
Computer Technician	35,000
Climate Station Technician	35,000
Communication cost	10,000
Computer Equipment	5,000
Equipment new climate stations 2 a year	20,000
Maintenance (travel plus parts)	35,000
Total	270,000

F. Contact

Dr. Ted Sammis

Professor

Agronomy and Horticulture Department

New Mexico State University Tel: (505) 646-2104

P.O. Box 30003 Fax: (505) 646 -6041