BAMWX – Custom Weather Forecasting for Farmers

What began as a hobby chasing storms has snowballed into one of the leading forecasting services for the agriculture industry. BAM Weather (BAMWX), which was founded in 2012 in Greenwood, Indiana, provides custom weather forecasts that go beyond basic weather databases and apps, allowing for smooth planning when it comes to spring planting, fall haying and everything in between.

“What makes us different is that we basically put a meteorologist right in the hands of everybody who has our service,” says Bret Walts, director of communications and a meteorologist at BAMWX.

Weather patterns play a critical role in a farm’s life cycle. Too much rain can result in rotting plants. Too little rain can stunt crops, prevent growth and make it difficult to feed livestock. Wind, severe storms, freezing temperatures and long-term drought all impact a farmer’s bottom-line. By making these personalized forecasts available 24/7, farmers can use them to make educated decisions based upon weather patterns unique to their specific acreage, delivered by expert meteorologists.

“We pride ourselves on being able to respond to people within just a few minutes and give them the forecast information that they need for their spot, not just the general area,” says Walts.

And the subscription-based service is growing in popularity among farmers and agribusiness owners with over a thousand subscribers within the ag industry utilizing BAMWX’s 11 meteorologists on a daily basis.

How Location-Specific Forecasting Works:

The majority of free weather apps and software are based upon automated data and automated weather modeling to provide generalized forecasts for a broad area. Location-specific forecasting breaks down the big picture data into smaller components. For example, rather than a county-wide weather forecast, BAMWX can hone in to provide a neighborhood block-specific forecast, or with regard to farmers, weather patterns for specific fields whenever they need them.

“We take the automated data and put it in the hands of our trained meteorologists who then analyze each person’s particular situation,” says Walts, acknowledging that putting the human element back into the automation brings more nuanced communication between the farmer and the meteorologist. This service also allows the farmer to ask questions about how short-term weather patterns may affect them and their growing season.

“I think there’s a lot of people who may ask, why would you ever pay for a weather service – you know, when there’s so many free weather apps out there already,” says Walts. “And I think the answer is this: if you know somebody who’s ever lost money or time or, even, their sanity because of a bad weather forecast, there is a better way.”

“Our goal is to really help people navigate those critical decisions to make their lives easier and, hopefully, save them a good amount of money, too,” he continues. “Because these are costly decisions, especially in the agriculture field, and we want to make sure that people are prepared.”

How BAMWX Benefits Farmers:

For the past few years, BAMWX has worked to tailor their platform to the agriculture sector in order to dig deeper into seasonal predictions, offering insight for farmers to utilize during the farm life cycle. Whether it’s spraying or cutting hay or planting, knowing to plan ahead for unseasonal cold fronts or extremely wet weather can help farmers make the best land management decisions.

“We’ve added tools like actual rainfall data so they can click through fields and see how much rain has fallen over a certain period. We’ve also got a proprietary spray forecast that uses automated data and our meteorologists can fill the gap when the data isn’t exactly perfect.” – Walt

For farmers in what Walts calls BAMWX’s agriculture “epicenter” – aka Indiana, Illinois and Iowa – the extended range forecast for the next three to five months calls for more moisture as the season cools down, which will help in areas that have been drier than usual this fall.

“Iowa and Illinois will especially start to get some relief and a good bit of rain over the next few weeks is on the table,” says Walts. For the winter months, most areas should return to normal to above normal moisture levels, especially in areas like Missouri and the Tennessee Valley where conditions have been very dry this fall.

As weather patterns continue to shift, using resources like BAMWX’s custom forecasting could make a difference in the economic health of U.S. farms.

“Staying up-to-date with the latest information whether it be drought conditions or planting conditions or harvest conditions will become increasingly important,” says Walts. “And having someone who is knowledgeable about these weird and unusual patterns will definitely be a useful tool now and in the future.”