© 2016 The Author(s) Study region: Grass-reference evapotranspiration estimation by the Penman-Monteith method (PM-ETo) requires a number of climate variables which are not always available at all weather stations. Different alternative ETo equations have been developed and their utilization for various local climate conditions requires analyses of their accuracy as compared to the standardized Penman-Monteith method. There is a significant lack ...