Water and Agriculture: Climate and Weather

Climate plays an important role in how water is used by agricultural producers. Specifically in Florida, climate variability may impact water needs. Crop development and yield responds to both individual weather events and seasonal climate variation.

Weather data are used in agricultural to make day-to-day decisions. Several resources are available for weather data in Florida.

Extension documents

• Fact sheets on climate variability
• Your Farm Weather Station: Installation and Maintenance (PDF)

Website resources

• Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN)
• agroclimate.org — includes a variety of tools including drought indexes and water foot print calculators

Mobile apps

• Agroclimate app
• My Florida Farm Weather tool

Note that links to apps can be found at http://ifas.ufl.edu/mobile-apps/

Freeze Protection

Agricultural producers may use freeze protection for periods when temperature drop below that suitable for their particular crop. Fifteen-minute weather data to help assess current temperatures can be found at the Florida Automated Weather Network.