Here’s some interesting information about a source of weather forecast data that might be useful for farmers across the Southeast, from Mark Hoffmann at our sister UGA Extension blog on viticulture. Note that the six-day forecast for humidity, wind, dew/frost and other variables will be good for planning field work for many crops, not just grapes. The weather data is not in the most user-friendly format but I think you can figure it out.
Weather Updates:
We have started a frequent weather and recommendation update, using the AWIS and WINDY weather services with 5 day hourly forecasts for most of the counties in NC, SC, GA, VA, and TN. The frequency depends on predicted weather events. The weather updates are free of charge and can be accessed on the NCSU grape portal: https://grapes.ces.ncsu.edu.
As mentioned before, it is expected to be an above average temperature and precipitation spring in the Southeast (Figure 1). This forecast might affect your pruning decisions.
Figure 1: Temperature forecast for 2/16-2/20: Above average temperatures are expected for the coming week (upper 50’s to low 60’s in most of the Southeast.
For more details, please visit:
https://grapes.ces.ncsu.edu/2018/02/awis-weather-forecast-expect-an-early-bud-break-time-to-prune/
