Putting agrometeorology to use

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Radio interview source: Al Sutherland, Mesonet ag coordinator, Oklahoma State University

Everybody knows the saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait an hour and it'll change." That makes it tough when you're trying to manage chores and projects on an acreage. I follow the weather pretty closely this time of year because we're trying to make hay.

The science of agrometeorology has become a very helpful Internet tool, often with real-time data to help producers plan around the weather.

Al Sutherland specializes in weather and climate information at Oklahoma State University, and passes it along to farmers. He says the National Weather Service has a page on their Web site that will give you an accurate hour-by-hour graph of the forecast for your zip code.

"You can actually go through that forecast, see when there's going to be a wind shift, how long the winds are going to be light so how long you have to spray," Sutherland says. "And those hour-by-hour forecasts also provide an indication of not only whether it's going to rain, but how much is it going to rain over a period of time."

Those forecasts are broken out into 3-, 6- or 12-hour blocks.