NIWA has a message for opening day visitors to the rural sector’s biggest event of the year: go prepared.
As the official forecaster of the New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays which starts at Mystery Creek on Wednesday, NIWA will be on site providing accurate, up-to-date weather information to help people plan their visit.
Doing the forecasting is NIWA’s newest meteorologist Chris Brandolino. He’s been tracking weather systems moving towards Mystery Creek, just south of Hamilton, and predicts showers for the first day.
“It shouldn’t be a washout, but there will be the threat of showers. The good news is that it will be a mild day for this time of the year.”
From Wednesday, Chris, a former US TV weatherman and talk show host, will be broadcasting live on the hour every hour from Fieldays. Visitors are welcome to watch Chris in action at NIWA’s purpose-built TV studio in the main pavilion – no umbrella necessary.
Chris will be using new state-of-the-art weather graphics specially designed for NIWA that tell you everything you need to know about what the weather will do in super fine detail. This is Chris’ first time at Fieldays in New Zealand but he’s a veteran of agricultural shows in the US and can’t wait to get to Mystery Creek.
NIWA will also have Chris’ forecasts on its website www.niwa.co.nz or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nzniwa or you can follow him on Twitter @NiwaWeather.
And while at Fieldays, NIWA will also be demonstrating FarmMet, a brand new high resolution forecasting tool for farmers. Visitors to its stand have an opportunity to go into a draw to win an iPad and one year’s subscription to FarmMet.
Be weather smart and visit NIWA in the main pavilion at Mystery Creek next week.
