In this episode ‘meet’ Australian CliMate, a nifty app that was developed for agriculture to help farmers identify the chances of certain weather conditions, to compare previous seasons and help on farm decision making to manage climate risks. 

Listen in, learn more about Australian CliMate from Dr Ann Starasts who is a Knowledge Broker with the new Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Drought Resilience Hub, at the University of Southern Queensland. Ann shares her insights about what this great app has to offer, who’s using it, what they like and find valuable about it.  

The app makes complex data available in user friendly visual formats. Strategic, really useful information not only for farmers in a changing climate – but also for other users who could include Aged Care facilities, weather educators, community groups, rural and agricultural advisers, bankers, insurance officers and more.

The easy to access and use tools include: 

• Season’s progress? When adjusting inputs during a crop or pasture season, how does the current season compare with previous conditions in terms of rainfall, temperature, heat sum or radiation? 
• How often? What is the chance of a good sowing event based on rainfall and when? What is the probability of temperature being below a critical level for germination or flowering?
• How wet? N? How much water and nitrate have I stored in my soil over the fallow? This can help adjust inputs to better match yield expectations.
• How hot-cold? When choosing an ideal sowing date, when are heat and cold stresses lowest for the optimum flowering time? 
• How likely?  What is the probability that rainfall or temperature is greater than or less than certain amounts and also how reliable have these forecasts been in the past? 
• El Nino indicator? What is the current ENSO status based on key atmospheric and oceanic indicators?  
• How’s the Past? Presents monthly and annual rainfall and temperature summaries to allow the user to explore relationships and patterns.
• And there’s also a yield calculator, trend analyser and drought update tools.

To learn more and download the app, Google ‘Australian Climate app’ or head to website Australian CliMate at https://climateapp.net.au/  or go to your App Store and search ‘Australian Climate’.

Website

Australian CliMate – climate analysis for decision makers

Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub

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