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The general purpose of this paper is to discuss the weather problems which confront those engaged in agriculture in a semiarid region such as the Western Great Plains. Some appraisal is made of the present service to agriculture with a view to the potentialities for a more adequate service. Specifically, comments are made on the use of the daily forecasts in planning and performing the farming operations. Instances are given of problems requiring information which is now unavailable, and suggestions are made for improving the service through forecasting, climatological and observational procedures aimed at reducing the risks to the farmer due to the hazards of weather.

The moisture content of cotton at time of harvest has a direct effect on cotton quality. Weather, in particular relative humidity, strongly influences variation in cotton moisture content. This paper summarizes three years of observations of weather in and around cotton fields at harvest time in the Mississippi Delta. Detailed studies of the variation of relative humidity, temperature, wind, sunlight, dew, and evaporation have been made in leafed fields and in fields where leaves were removed artificially. Single weather variables and combinations of variables have been related to dew intensity and to the rate of evaporation. Surface weather maps are presented to show the average pressure patterns associated with extremes in dew and evaporation. A preliminary cotton picking guide, developed jointly by the Weather Bureau and the Cotton Harvesting Section of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which gives the farmer all objective estimate of when to start picking cotton on the basis of weather vari...