Personalised Weather Information from NIWA

At the 2014 Field Days NIWA launched FarmMet, a new subscription based forecasting service aimed directly at the farming community and tailored specifically for farms.

Research shows that farmers and growers see weather as the biggest risk to their businesses. While weather can’t be controlled, farmers can prepare for and mitigate the impact weather can have on their income and livelihood if they get good and timely information.

NIWA is the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. It is New Zealand’s leading supplier of atmospheric, freshwater, environmental and marine science services. It collects, stores and manages data on New Zealand’s weather, climate, marine and freshwater resources and other important environmental parameters. It delivers that data via a range of tools and services. Niwa’s expertise and capabilities in weather and climate is based on years of research, an extensive network of weather and climate stations and the power of their IBM p575 POWER 6 supercomputer, called “Fitzroy”.

Chief scientist Murray Poulter says the whole idea is to enhance the economic value and sustainable management of farms and increase the resilience to weather and climate hazards. He says what is different about this service is that thanks to the network of weather stations, farmers can gain access data that is specifically tailored to their area and not just a regional average. So rather than just a West Coast forecast, farmers will now to be able to access a Reefton or Inangahua forecast, along with supporting current and historical data.

NIWA FarmMet taps into over 300 weather recording stations dotted around the country. These weather stations provide up to date information which, when teamed with NIWA modelling, can provide individual farmers with much more accurate forecasting than they’ve had before.

Murray Poulter says that means farmers can plan operations like irrigating, fertilising, stocking, spraying and harvesting based on information that is much more precise.

FarmMet also aims to help farmers be better prepared for destructive weather like frosts, floods and high winds.

FarmMet automatically selects the nearest weather station to the farm when the farmer first logs in. You can change stations if you want and receive data from a different location. NIWA says farmers will receive forecasts tailored to the farm rather than averaged across a region. The cost for the subscription is $399 (+ GST) per year.

The forecasts update every time the user logs in. It also resizes to fit what device the farmer wants to use – laptop, desktop, phone or tablet.

NIWA markets FarmMet off the back of what it says is its recognised expertise in the collection, management and application of weather and climate data. It says every forecast is validated against the weather that actually occurs at that location and time.

The service offers a range of forecasts – air temperature, wind speed and direction and rainfall expected at the farm’s location for the next hour.

There are 2 day, 6 day and 2 week forecasts along with a seasonal climate outlook which shows the likelihood that temperature, rainfall, river flow and soil moisture in the farm’s region will be above or below average during the next three months.

There are graphs showing accumulated weather data, growing degree days, soil moisture balance, air temperature and frost for the year to date. They can also compare this date with historical averages dating back 30 years.

TV meteorologist Chris Brandolino is NIWA’s newest recruit and is the face of FarmMet. He has spent 16 years on TV in the US, most of it in New York State. The now Auckland-based 39-year-old has also worked at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, where he got used to the idea of cold air coming from the south – the opposite of his native North America.