Exciting times lie ahead for farmers using forecast information to make on farm decisions with new products under development soon to become operational by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). As a part ForeWarned is ForeArmed (FWFA), a five year (2017-2022) nationwide project, BoM researchers are working closely with farmers and other industry representatives to deliver state-of-the-art forecasting services beyond the traditional seven-day weather forecast for extreme climate events.
To date two out of five products are currently in the final stages of their development and will appear on the BoM’s Climate Outlook pages at some stage 2021.
Product 1: Maps showing the likelihood of very cold/very hot and very dry/wet
These maps will indicate the chances of having extreme (decile 1&2 and deciles 9&10) rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures for the weeks, months and seasons ahead. Figure 1 and 2 provide examples of what these products will potentially look like on the BoM’s outlook page.
Figure 1: A map of Australia indicating the chance of each region receiving unusually high rainfall for November 2020.
Figure 2: A map of Australia indicating the chance of each region experiencing unusually high maximum temperatures for the period of 13th to 26th November 2020.
Product 2: Decile/quintile bars
These bars will be location-specific and indicate the shift in the probabilities compared to usual across the deciles. They will be available for rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures for the weeks, fortnights, months and seasons ahead. Figure 3 is an example of what the decile/quintile bars could end up looking like.
Figure 3: Rainfall (left) and temperature (right) decile/quintile bars for Devonport, Tas over the 31st August to 6th September period.
If you would like to find out more information about the products under development you can check them out here: http://piccc.org.au/research/project/FWFA_Forum.html. This webpage also provides a platform for you to provide any feedback which you may have to assist the BoM with fine-tuning the products so that they are relevant and suited to you, the target users.
This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program in partnership with rural Research and Development Corporations, commercial companies, state departments and universities. Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) is responsible for the overall management of the project.
