NIWA brings weather forecasting to farmers' doors

NIWA brings weather forecasting to farmers' doors

A new weather and environmental forecasting service launched today at the Mystery Creek Fieldays, near Hamilton, provides farmers with tailored information about weather conditions on their farm.

The web-based weather forecasting information service called NIWA forecast aims to help farmers and growers identify the right time to carry out weather-dependent operations like irrigation, spraying and harvesting.

NIWA Chief Scientist, Atmosphere, Dr Murray Poulter says this new service takes forecasting to another level because different forecasts can now be created for properties as little as 12km apart. Information and forecasts incorporate data from the NIWA weather station that best represents climatic conditions on a property.

“NIWA forecast can deliver valuable climate analysis and forecasts from the present to 15 days ahead direct to farmers’ and growers’ computers via the internet direct to their farm.”

Dr Poulter says the service is backed by modelling and the capabilities of one of the most powerful supercomputers of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The forecast can be set to give information about rainfall, temperature, wind, soil temperature and frost.

Subscribers will receive a direct, 24/7 feed to their computer. Alerts can be set up that trigger email or text ‘warning’ messages to nominated recipients whenever the specified alert conditions are forecast – instantly identifying windows of opportunity or periods of risk.

To try out NIWA forecast at Fieldays, visit NIWA in the pavilion, at site PF15.

For more information about NIWA forecast go to www.niwa.co.nz/our-services/forecasting-for-farmers

NIWA is the official weather forecaster for Fieldays and for all major Mystery Creek events taking place during the next three years.

A weather station has been set up at Mystery Creek, which will feed live observations of temperature, wind speed and direction and rainfall to display screens across the venue and to NIWA's Fieldays exhibition site.

For people living in urban areas NIWA is also launching a free web-based urban weather forecasting service called NIWA Weather. The site will provide forecasts out to 6 days ahead for major New Zealand towns and cities – utilising NIWA’s extensive national climate station network and powerful, high-resolution numerical forecasting capabilities.
To try out NIWA Weather go to www.niwaweather.co.nz
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