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Weather: Water and Sun Points

WeatherWater
Points
Sun
Points
Season
Sunny 03 All year
Clear 02 All year
Cloudy 01 All year
Drizzle 10 Spring, Summer, Fall
Rainy 20 Spring, Summer, Fall
Snowy 20 Winter
Hurricane 30 Summer
Blizzard 30 Winter

The weather system in Sunshine Islands is a big influence on the maturity period and ranking of your crops. You must learn to manage your watering cycles for successful crop growth.

In previous versions of Harvest Moon, a player could simply save the game the night before and check the weather the next morning; if it wasn't what he or she was expecting for the next day, reloading and going back to bed would reset the weather. In Sunshine Islands, the weather is set 7 days before, and is very difficult to control. Basically, using the old save/reload trick does not work in this version of Harvest Moon.

The daily weather report will come from the wise old farmer, Taro. You will need to visit his house every day and talk to him. He will tell you the next day's weather only once, so make sure you are paying attention!

The weather also affects the amount of stamina you lose when working outside. If the weather is Clear or Cloudy, you won't lose any extra stamina when using your tools. If it is Drizzle or Sunny then you'll get tired just a little bit easier. Finally, if the weather is Rainy or Snowy then you will lose a lot of stamina when working outside.

Weather will affect your crops

Each crop has two scales relating to its growth cycle:

  • Sun Points are calculated based on how much sun the plant will receive. It will earn the necessary sun points on Sunny, Clear, or Cloudy weather days. You can't control how much sun a plant receives unless you are growing crops in the Greenhouse, where the sun points consistently are at 1 per Sun Stone per day. You can have up to 3 Sun Stone holders in the Greenhouse.
  • Water Points are something you do actually have some control over. Every time you water your crop you will earn 1 water point, and you do have the option of watering your crops twice a day. The weather also will add water points.

The point systems bring more challenge to the game, as a farmer will have to delicately balance the levels of each one in order to successfully grow crops. Knowing how many points you need and how the system works will be greatly beneficial, since there isn't an in-game explanation.

Simple Growth Example: Turnip

Turnip
StageDays Sun Water
Seed 23 to 192 to 19
Sprout 1 23 to 192 to 19
Mature Will die in 10 days or if it
receives 39 Sun and/or 19 Water

Your first crop, the Turnip, is the most basic plant to grow. The Turnip has 3 stages of growth; seed, sprout, and the final pick-me stage. The seed stage ideally takes 2 days to grow into a sprout, and the sprout takes 2 days before you can pick the Turnip. That means you'll have a Turnip in 5 days.

The amount of Sun Points and Water Points the plant receives will affect the number of days the plant takes to grow. For a Turnip, the seed-stage and sprout-stage need to receive between 2 and 19 points of Water, and 3 to 19 points for Sun.

So let's say it is Spring 10 and you have a bag of Turnip seeds you'd like to grow:

  • Spring 10 - Today's weather is "Clear", which will give you 2 Sun Point. You've planted your Turnip seeds and you have watered them once with your Watering Can.

    Day 1 Total: 2 Sun & 1 Water

  • Spring 11 - Today is a "Sunny" day, and that gives you 3 Sun Points. You also watered your crops in the morning.

    Day 2 Total: 5 Sun & 2 Water

  • Spring 12 - Your Turnip seeds now have sprouted. The seed stage needed between 3 and 19 points for Sun and 2 to 19 points of Water within 2 days, and you ended up with 5 Sun and 2 Water. Now that you're successfully reached the next stage, you will start back at 0 points for Sun and Water.

    Today is a "Drizzly" day, so you won't get any Sun Points at all! The rain will automatically give you 1 Water Point and you don't even have to take care of the Turnips today.

    Day 3 Total: 0 Sun & 1 Water

  • Spring 13 - Oh drat, another "Drizzly" day! No Sun again today, but there isn't anything you can really do to control the weather. Since this is the 2nd day for the sprout stage, and it doesn't have the required Sun Points, it will not move to the last stage of growth the next day. The plant won't die though, because you have not reached the maximum 19 Sun Points or 19 Water Points for this stage.

    Day 4 Total: 0 Sun & 2 Water

  • Spring 14 - It is finally a "Sunny" day, and you have earned 3 Sun Points. You decide to water your crops anyway, but you didn't really need to. Since you already have the minimum required Water Points, you don't have to water anymore. If you do water, then you run the risk of lowering the Turnip's Quality. Just reaching the minimum 2 points for each stage of growth will get you the highest Quality ranking.

    Day 5 Total: 3 Sun & 3 Water

  • Spring 15 - Your Turnip has finally matured! It took an extra day because of the two days of rain, but now you can harvest your crops. Although, if you leave the Turnip in the ground you will increase its Size ranking. If you do choose to leave it in the ground for a few days, but for no more than 10 days, make sure it does not receive 19 Water Points and 39 Sun Points.

    Day 6 Total: Success!

Regenerating Growth Example: Yams

StageDays Sun Water
Seed 12 to 51 to 7
Sprout 1 23 to 111 to 3
Sprout 2 23 to 91 to 3
Mature Will die in 10 days or if it receives
more than 14 Sun and/or 3 Water
Regrows: Returns to Sprout 2 when picked

Yams are a popular Fall season crop. Instead of having to plant new seeds after every harvest, the plant will return to its second stage of growth and produce more crops. Yams are convenient, but difficult because of the sensitive water point requirements. Several days of rain can kill your entire field of Yams.

Lets say it is Fall 10 for this example.

  • Fall 10 - You have planted the Yam seeds you previously bought from Chen's shop on this Cloudy day, and you water them once. Your seeds will earn 1 point of sun and 1 point of water. It will not sprout until it has 2 sun points.

    Day 1 Total: 1 Sun and 1 Water

  • Fall 11 - Today's weather is Drizzly, so your Yam gets an additional water point and no sun points. The Yam seeds can get 7 points at most before it will disappear, and now it has 2. If today had been a sun point day, the Yam seeds would have sprouted the next day.

    Day 2 Total: 1 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 12 - It is another Cloudy day, so your seeds get the last necessary point of sun. Since you only need 1 water point for growth, you don't have to water them.

    Day 3 Total: 2 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 13 - The Yams are now at sprout stage 1, and the accumulated sun/water at this point have been reset to zero. Today's weather is Clear, so you get 2 sun points. Watering your Yams will give it 1 water point, which meets the water point requirement.

    Day 4 Total: 2 Sun and 1 Water

  • Fall 14 - A Cloudy day means you get another sun point. You happen to water the Yams once again, but be careful! At this stage, just going past 3 points of water will kill the delicate Yams.

    Day 5 Total: 3 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 15 - The Yams are now at sprout stage 2, but unfortunately today is a Rainy day. This gives the Yams now have 2 water points. If they get two more points then they'll die!

    Day 6 Total: 0 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 16 - Today is the Dog Festival, so you have a nice, Sunny day worth 2 sun points. Since you know your Yams already have 2 water points, adding more water would be too risky; if you watered them today and then had another rainy day, the Yams would die.

    Day 7 Total: 2 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 17 - A Clear day means you get 2 sun points, which is more than you need to meet the 3 sun point requirement. Don't water the Yams!

    Day 8 Total: 4 Sun and 2 Water

  • Fall 18 - The Yams have now produced their purple tubers for you to harvest. Once picked, the Yam will return to sprout stage 2. The plant will produce Yams every 2 days if you reach the minimum 3 points of sun and minimum 1 point of water. If you get two Rainy days in a row, your Yams will die; there's not much you can do about it.

    Day 9 Total: Success!

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