CIMIS Weather Station

What is CIMIS?

The California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) is an integrated network of automated active weather stations located throughout California. The system is operated by the California Department of Water Resources.

CIMIS is a free service that can help water providers improve irrigation efficiency with the weather information needed for calculating water budgets.The result is improved water and energy management through efficient water irrigation practices.

CIMIS Station
  1. How Does CIMIS Work?
  2. Why Use CIMIS?
  3. How to Access CIMIS Data

CIMIS stations collect weather data that is sent to a centralized computer database. "Reference evapotranspiration" or "ETo" is calculated from this information. The daily water needs of plants can be estimated by using ETo and landscape coefficients.

From this information, a water budget irrigation schedule can be established that indicates when to irrigate and how much water to apply. This method of irrigation scheduling can reduce the amount of water applied during a season and—at the same time—improve plant growth.