Weather Services
Weather info at your fingertips!
Weather information is vital when planning and conducting agricultural operations. SASRI provides access to real-time and historical weather data, and offers an installation and maintenance service for automatic weather stations.
SASRI records and processes meteorological data continuously from a grid of automatic and manual weather stations across the SA sugar industry. This data and related weather applications can be accessed via SASRI’s WeatherWeb.
All information can be viewed or downloaded in the form of maps, graphs or reports. The ‘Real-Time Weather’ component of the website allows users to view current weather information from a range of sites. Rainfall and temperature figures are updated every five minutes, and the site also provides evapotranspiration values and a fire danger index. Real-time weather information is useful for decision making regarding irrigation, chemical application and harvesting operations.
WeatherWeb also provides links to a range of sites that provide short, medium and long-term weather forecasts.
Phillemon Sithole
Details
Assistant Agrometeorologist
Tel: 031 508 7400 (Switchboard)
Tel: 031 508 7435 (Direct)
Email: phillemon.sithole@sugar.org.za
Role & Overall Purpose
- Acquisition and processing of weather data into useful decision support information for all industry stakeholders.
- Producing regular sugarcane crop forecasts using the Canesim Crop Forecasting System and disseminating results to key industry stakeholders.
Expertise
- Weather data acquisition and processing
- Crop modelling
Specific Interests
- Soil-crop-climate interactions.
- Web-based decision support tools (technology development).
- Crop Modelling.
Qualifications
MSc. Agricultural Meteorology (University of Zimbabwe)
AWS INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE
SASRI offers an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) installation and maintenance service both within and outside the borders of South Africa. All installations are conducted according to established standards and include programming of data loggers to suit user needs and setting up automated data collection. All data from the AWS is processed to ensure integrity.
Maintenance routines include regular on-site calibration of sensors and equipment, any repairs or replacements required and general site maintenance. Calibration reports and certificates of compliance are issued with each visit.
Jarman Chetty