Risk assessment and Forecasting
The Bureau of Meteorology – National Climate
Centre
The Queensland Centre for Climate Applications
Whopper Cropper
Department of Agriculture Western Australia
A wide variety of weather forecasting and decision support tools and services are available from a number of different sources – both state-based and national. They range from purely climate and weather based to integrated packages that relate to a specific aspect of farm management. The latter cover areas such as crop modelling, stock modelling, climate impacts risk assessment and amelioration, water storage, nitrogen mineralisation, etc. For a real world example of how to make forecasting work for your farm, see the "Expecting the Unexpected" article in the Good Times Hard Times magazine.
The following lists a number of sources of these types of tools and services to give you an idea of what is available. However this list is not exhaustive and you should also contact your State or Territory Agricultural Department or equivalent for more information, especially for information relevant to your area.
The Bureau of Meteorology – National Climate Centre
Provides a range of services from raw data to basic analysis to predictions. Much is free of charge, however data that requires more analysis or interpretation may attract a charge. See http://www.bom.gov.au/.
Raw Data – is available for basic meteorological elements such as wind, rainfall, temperatures etc., and also on upper atmosphere data such as cyclones.
Analysis – provides products based on analysis of raw data from the archive, for example climate maps.
Predictions – provides long range seasonal climate outlooks including the probabilities of receiving above or below average temperatures or rainfall.
SILO - This service specialises in meteorological and agricultural information for rural interests, and provides the following information: SOI index data; meteogram outlook; meteorological datasets; rain radar images; weather observations; forecasts and warnings; seasonal outlooks and climate averages. For more information see http://www1.ho.bom.gov.au/silo/.
The Queensland Centre for Climate Applications
The Queensland Centre for Climate Applications develops ways to apply seasonal climate forecasts to decision-making by primary producers or any industry that is affected by seasonal conditions. Their products include the software programs Rainman and DroughtPlan, on-line information such as the Weekly Climate Outlook, and Long Paddock, and they also run "Managing for Climate" workshops.
For more information CLICK HERE or call (07) 4688 1348 in Toowoomba, or (07) 3896 9742 in Indooroopilly.
Whopper Cropper is an easy-to-use computer program designed to provide crop management advisers in north-eastern Australia with the latest technology in cropping systems modelling and seasonal climate forecasting. For more information CLICK HERE
Department of Agriculture Western Australia
Supplies both weather information and decision support tools. For weather information and a range of decision support tools CLICK HERE . Decision support tools include TACT- A seasonal wheat sowing decision aid, Australian Rainman, FLOWER, AGET - Calculates evapotranspiration, runoff and recharge, SPLAT - Calculates wheat grain yield, protein % and screenings, PYCAL, Raincal, Navail - Calculates the relative availability of various nitrogen sources. NCAL - A computer version of the nitrogen calculator, L & NCAL - For estimating the quantity of nutrients and lime equivalents lost from paddocks, and Frost ID guide - A pamphlet to help growers identify frost damage.
