Smart Ways Farmers Can Overcome Weather Challenges
- Joshua Brock
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Few factors influence farming as profoundly as the weather. Soil fertility, seed heritage, and machinery all matter, but the atmosphere above determines whether those investments succeed or fail.
Understanding the weather is not just about knowing whether it will rain tomorrow; it is about using forecasts, climate trends, and key agricultural weather metrics to make smarter, more resilient decisions. For today’s farmer, weather literacy is becoming as important as agronomy itself.
Forecasts: More Than Rain or Shine
Short-term weather forecasts are the most familiar tools for farmers. A five-day outlook can guide decisions such as whether to irrigate, spray herbicides, or delay planting. An hour-by-hour or even minute-by-minute forecast can influence which tasks will be completed and when. Forecasts have grown more sophisticated than ever before.
How Farmbrite Can Help
Farmbrite provides daily and hourly weather forecasts specific to your farm or operation's location. When you log in to Farmbrite, your dashboard will present a great deal of helpful information, including a weather forecast. Note that the forecast is generated based on the address associated with your Farmbrite account. You can update this in your Settings if you'd like to default your dashboard to displaying weather for a different location.
Many weather service providers now offer what's known as field-level forecasting, delivering data specific to a farm’s GPS coordinates instead of generalized regional predictions. These pinpoint forecasts can show not only expected rainfall but also soil moisture, wind speeds, and evapotranspiration rates. The result is more actionable intelligence: a grower can choose the optimal day to apply fertilizer when rain is predicted, or avoid spraying herbicides during a windy period that might cause drift.
The key, however, is not to view forecasts as certainties. Weather models update constantly, and probabilities shift—recall the phrase, "they change their mind like the weather." Farmers who learn to interpret those probabilities, treating them as ranges of risk rather than guarantees, are better prepared to adjust on the fly.
Climate Trends: Planning Beyond the Season
While forecasts answer the question “What will the weather be tomorrow?”, climate trends help farmers plan for years to come. Shifts in average temperatures, rainfall patterns, and extreme events are altering planting windows, crop viability, and pest cycles.
For instance, regions historically known for steady rainfall are experiencing longer dry spells punctuated by heavy downpours, changing irrigation strategies. Warmer winters in some areas allow pests to overwinter, increasing the threat to next season’s crops.
Farmers who monitor seasonal and long-term climate projections can make better investment decisions: whether to diversify crops, adopt drought-resistant varieties, or modify infrastructure like drainage systems and irrigation. Recognizing these larger patterns helps ensure not just a successful harvest this year, but long-term resilience.
How Farmbrite Can Help
You may likely have various technologies to record weather data. From thermometers to rain gauges, using a weather station can help you prepare and react to changing conditions and historical trends. We know that data can sometimes be hard to read and capture, so we've created an entire subsection of Farmbrite devoted to recording and visualizing climate data trends at your farm. You can find it under Climate in the main menu.
Choosing the Right Weather Provider
Not all weather data is created equal. Farmers today can choose from multiple providers, national meteorological services, private firms, and even ag-tech platforms that integrate weather directly into farm management software.
National Weather Services (such as NOAA in the U.S. or Environment Canada) provide reliable and widely accessible data, including frost warnings and severe weather alerts.
Private providers often specialize in high-resolution, hyper-local models that deliver more precise farm-level forecasts.
Consumer Focused
Apple Weather (formerly Dark Sky)
Weather.com (The Weather Company - an IBM business)
Wunderground (Weather Underground)
Business and Weather Data Providers
Agriculture-focused platforms combine weather with other data streams, such as satellite imagery and soil sensors, to deliver recommendations directly tied to farm operations.
The best choice often depends on the size of your operation, the crops grown, and your budget. Many farmers find value in cross-referencing several providers, building confidence by looking for consensus among forecasts.
Key Agricultural Weather Terms Every Farmer Should Know
Weather services and agronomic advisors use specialized terms. Understanding these concepts allows farmers to translate raw data into operational decisions.
Growing Degree Days (GDD): A measure of heat accumulation used to predict crop development stages. GDD helps farmers anticipate when a crop will reach maturity or when pests are likely to emerge.
Frost Dates: The average dates of the last frost in spring and the first frost in autumn. Knowing these is critical for determining safe planting windows and preventing crop loss.
Evapotranspiration (ET): The combined loss of water from soil evaporation and plant transpiration. ET estimates help farmers gauge irrigation needs, ensuring that water applications match actual crop demand.
Soil Temperature: Just as important as air temperature, soil warmth influences seed germination and root growth. Many planting recommendations specify minimum soil temperatures for successful establishment.
Chill Hours: For orchards and perennial crops, a certain number of cold hours is required for proper bud development. Tracking chill hours helps orchardists anticipate bloom timing and yield potential.
By learning these terms, farmers gain the ability to link weather conditions directly to crop physiology and management actions.
Integrated Weather and Climate Technology on the Farm
Beyond forecasts and models, many farmers are investing in on-farm monitoring technology that delivers real-time, site-specific data. These systems bridge the gap between regional forecasts and actual field conditions.
On-Farm Weather Stations: Compact, rugged stations from providers like Davis Instruments or HOBO (Onset Computer Corporation) measure temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, and barometric pressure. Farmers can install them in multiple fields to capture microclimate differences, which often explain yield variation across a farm.
Soil Temperature Probes: These sensors track ground-level conditions that determine germination, root activity, and microbial processes. Knowing when soil reaches the optimal threshold for corn or soybean planting, for example, reduces risk and improves emergence.
Soil Moisture Probes: By measuring water availability at various depths, probes help farmers fine-tune irrigation scheduling. Rather than irrigating on a calendar schedule, growers can apply water when the crop actually needs it, saving both water and energy costs.
Integrated Dashboards and Alerts: Many systems connect wirelessly to farm management platforms or smartphone apps, providing real-time alerts when frost risk rises, when soils are approaching drought stress, or when growing degree thresholds are reached.
How Farmbrite Can Help
Farmbrite provides the ability to track your local weather using climate logs. Once you have a gauge added to Farmbrite, you can start recording data from it to track trends over time. The information is added per each individual gauge, so you can track the key data points at specific locations around your property.
These technologies empower farmers to make data-driven decisions rather than relying solely on generalized weather services. The combination of regional forecasts with on-farm measurements provides the clearest picture of risk and opportunity.
Practical Applications on the Farm
Let’s consider a few scenarios where weather literacy and technology directly impact outcomes:
Corn Planting: A grower tracking soil temperature with probes knows when conditions are warm enough for strong germination, reducing the risk of replanting.
Wheat Disease Management: By monitoring humidity, rainfall, and GDD from on-farm weather stations, farmers can time fungicide applications more effectively, reducing both costs and crop losses.
Irrigation Scheduling: Soil moisture probes paired with ET values allow a farmer to irrigate based on actual crop demand rather than guesswork, conserving resources.
Orchard Protection: Weather stations integrated with frost alert systems enable orchardists to activate frost protection measures—such as wind machines or irrigation—at the right moment, protecting blossoms.
Building Weather Literacy on the Farm
Weather information is abundant, but the challenge is in interpretation and application.
Farmers can strengthen their weather literacy by:
Regularly monitoring multiple forecasts and learning how to interpret confidence ranges.
Tracking on-farm weather data using stations and probes, then comparing results with external forecasts.
Using decision-support tools from ag-tech providers that integrate weather, soil, and crop models.
Engaging with extension services or agronomists who can explain how weather concepts connect to local crops and conditions.
Just as importantly, farmers should document outcomes. Recording yields, input use, and weather conditions creates a feedback loop that strengthens decision-making year after year.
Farming With the Sky in Mind
Farming has always been at the mercy of the weather, but modern tools and concepts allow growers to turn uncertainty into manageable risk. Forecasts guide day-to-day operations, climate trends inform long-term strategies, and agricultural weather terms like GDD and frost dates provide precise markers for crop management.
With the addition of on-farm monitoring technologies—from weather stations to soil moisture probes—farmers gain an unprecedented ability to track, predict, and respond to changing conditions. By investing in weather literacy and technology, farmers are not only protecting their harvests but also positioning themselves to adapt in an era of rapid climate change.
In agriculture, the sky has always mattered. Today, understanding it—and measuring it—are essential skills. To learn more about how Farmbrite can integrate local weather data into your operations other crop and livestock data, including data from specific weather instruments located on-site, we encourage you to try our comprehensive farm management system and see firsthand how it can benefit you.
Give Farmbrite a try for free for 14 days. Should you have any questions, we invite you to reach out to us - we’re here to help!
Joshua, his wife Jenn, and their dog Rooster, live in PA. Joshua is the owner and operator of Hoffman Appalachian Farm where they grow Certified Naturally Grown hops. Joshua has over twelve years of experience in growing crops, including growing in an organic system. In his spare time he enjoys trail running, backpacking, and cycling. Additionally, Joshua previously worked for AccuWeather for a number of years and has taken a great interest in incorporating hyper-local weather data into his family's hop farm operation.
