Canadian farmers now have another source of on-line weather information. This one is from the folks at The Weather Network.
What sets farmzone.com apart from other on-line weather services is TWN’s proprietary Pelmorex Forecast Engine technology, said marketing manager Wayne Myers. This allows the network to deliver forecasts that are precise and specific for an individual farm.
Myers said farmzone.com boasts 640 weather zones, three times as many as its competitors, including Environment Canada. Farmers can choose from 34 different farm zones in Saskatchewan, 21 in Alberta and 23 in Manitoba.
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This allows them to receive more exact forecasts, said Myers. The Kindersley, Sask., zone, for instance, represents an area of about 100 kilometres by 85 km.
Farmzone.com is a web-based service that costs $19.95 a month, or $179.40 for a full year. Some farmers may want to receive information for more than one zone if they have land that spills over the boundaries. Each additional zone registered per farm is $9.95 a month.
The service offers short-range (24 hour), mid-range (two to three day) and long-range (four to seven day) forecasts that are all updated every six hours.
Short- and mid-range forecasts give farmers a variety of information like probability of precipitation, the chance of a rain greater than five millimetres and a forecast of precipitation accumulation.
“So he can look ahead and see not only whether he’s going to get rain or not, but how much rain and what chances of it being a rain that would stop his field activities, for example,” said Myers.
There are also planning forecasts that offer producers a drying index, hours of sunshine, growing degree days and crop heat units.
The service also provides historical data that is updated on a daily basis. Farmers can enter a date or a range of dates to determine things like what was the high on July 3 or how much cumulative precipitation was received from June 19-24.
In addition to radar and satellite images, the service also offers agricultural news from Reuters News Agency and a yellow pages business directory for farmers.
Producers can sign up for a free 30-day trial period before April 15. Those who are interested in subscribing to the service can do so on-line at www.farmzone.com.
