Drought related web sites

Farmers are one of the most intense users of everyday technology at this time, with the drought and weather conditions so unpredictable. With some of these tools, they can even predict some weather conditions months in advance.

Australia is a land of highly variable and extreme climatic conditions. From long and destructive droughts to sudden and pervading flooding, Australia’s crops, pasture and livestock — as well as its overall ecological sustainability — are often at the mercy of what the skies deliver. Knowing more about what’s in store climate-wise — as well as how to best manage the risks and opportunities the season may bring — is central to the profitable and sustainable future of Australian agriculture

The Bureau of Meteorology's SILO site at http://www.bom.gov.au/silo has lots of Land related information including indepth text on El Nino, current outlooks next few months and history file on the SOI (southern osilation index). Check out the Drought section and look at the rainfall deficiency maps.

The CVAP - Climate Variability in Agriculture Program research site is at www.cvap.gov.au and draws a mainly research type audience. CVAP builds on climate science and information and applies it to practical and risky decisions in farm and natural resource management.

Other weather programs:

For daily use, go to things like www.thefarmshed.com.au/weather (Farmshed is an independently owned rural portal).

Short term forecasts:

7 - 10 days…: best site for 10 day forecast is a US website with Aussie weather at the Institute for Global Environment and Society/Centre for Ocean, Land, Atmosphere Studies (IGES/COLA). The website is at: http://grads.iges.org/pix/prec7.html. This one is extremely accurate - Dept Main Roads use it. It is useful for farmers when they are planning things like lambing and shearing and they need to check for bad weather. It is also useful for cropping people who are looking for rain.

Seasonal outlooks:

A subsection of the Bureau of Meteorology site is used called ENSO (ENSO is a site where all the climate modellers around the world put their predictions in about what is happening.) Find it at: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/ENSO-summary.shtml

Long term:

SCRIPPS different colour codings for rainfall vs dry. QLD uses totally different colour codes to what BOM does, so be careful what you're reading! http://ecpc.ucsd.edu/imagedata/NSMD/DRF/007d/PRECIPPAC/latest_f_precippac.anim.gif

El Nino:

Do you know what it is? El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe.

Lots of info related to Australia here: www.elnino.noaa.gov/forecast.html

Also visit http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/forecast/net_asmt/ for australian related temperature and a precipitation index.

At the Department of Agriculture in your state, you'll find heaps of related tools. Eg: NSW Dept is: http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au and the tools they use are many and varied, such as:

For Historical stuff: computer programs - such as 'rainman' and 'metaccess' enable them to look at probability tables on a monthly basis and discover the seasonal forecast, the chance of rain and when the SOI (southern osilation index) is in a certain phase.

The SOI is the air pressure diff. between Tahiti and Darwin. It has a greater application in the Nthrn part of Aust. It is less predicable for us in the Sth.

There is also a program called Grazfeed - assesses the pasture animal interactions. what the pasture has got, where the animals are sitting, and tells you their performance. Allows you to analyse what the animals will do. eg: 10 ton of grain in the shed.. will tell you how much to feed the sheep to mark time.

Feed Cost Calculator: at http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/4439 - gives you a conscious buying decision of what fodder source may be best. eg: if you had option of hay and cotton seed meal, you put the price p/ton in and it will tell you out of their database how to compare them on a cents per energy or cents per energy or cents per dry matter.

Other decision making tools are at : http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/1194

Other sites:

www.farmwide.com.au has the latest weather, agSearch built specifically for searching within the agricultural industry, links and references, training, software and a Farmers Guide to the Internet.

For my fact sheet archive, visit http://www.getmega.com/getmega/todayshow.html