Measuring Up: Enhancements for Analyzing Weather Data in Climate FieldView

It’s that time of year when you are either in your fields harvesting this season’s crop or planning to be soon. However, changing weather and field conditions can affect your ability to work in some areas of your operation during this important time. How can you make confident decisions about which fields are ready for harvest?

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How to interpret Climate FieldView™ rainfall estimates

While rain gauges measure precipitation in specific areas of an operation, rainfall can vary substantially across a field. In fact, our weather scientists found rainfall to vary by as much as an inch over small fields during typical rainstorms. To account for this variability, Climate FieldView™ rainfall reports provide an average estimate of rainfall over a field. These estimates:

• Eliminate the need to check a rain gauge in the field by making the information accessible through email notifications and in our app
• Provide field-level rainfall estimates to ensure you have more and better information to make short-term farm operation decisions, like if a field is workable on a specific day

How grid rainfall estimates are created

Climate FieldView™ rainfall reports use grid rainfall estimates, which are created using live weather feeds from weather radars and rain gauges. This combination provides the most representative rainfall measurement at the field level. By utilizing these grid rainfall estimates, Climate LLC Weather Science Team produces an average precipitation estimate for a grid and we then match these grids up to your fields. We create our first estimate of precipitation 15 minutes after the hour. Then, as more data is received, we cross-check the readings and update the values as needed. This is why you’ll sometimes see these measurements change over time.

Climate FieldView™ rainfall measurement enhancements

In March of 2017, we built and launched a new rainfall estimation model in order to provide improved rainfall estimates. This new model provides our customers with rainfall notifications and supplies the FieldView™ nitrogen monitoring tool with rainfall information.

Because we know how important rainfall estimates are to your decisions, we continue to enhance our model. In September 2017, another major enhancement was integrated into our rainfall estimates using machine learning techniques to take advantage of as much weather data as possible in a more intelligent way.

We invite you to use FieldView™ weather features to help you get the most out of every acre during harvest season – and throughout the year. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Climate Support Team at (888) 924-7475 or support@climate.com.

For more information on rainfall reporting and weather improvements in FieldView™, click here.

Brad Colman is the Director of Weather Science at Climate LLC where he leads a team of researchers, including machine learners, statisticians, atmospheric scientists, and meteorologists. This team is focused on delivering high quality weather information that helps farmers make confident decisions about their operations.