How the rainfall feature works

Our rainfall tracking and history comes from a dataset that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produces. The NOAA sources the data from multiple radar and ground stations to algorithmically calculate the amount of precipitation that falls on a high-resolution grid across the continental United States. The NOAA factors in variables like wind and terrain that influence where the rain actually hits the ground. This is done within 0.62 miles (1 km) of accuracy. The rainfall grid data is gauge-corrected every hour, after which we check for updates and match them up with your field boundaries.

We report rainfall information in a couple of different ways:

• Recent rainfall
• Rain & Heat History

Recent rainfall
Available to all users. Located on the Fields page on the field index card.

RAINFALL IN THE LAST 24 HOURS
On days when rain is recorded within the previous 24 hours the field index card shows a badge with the 24-hour rainfall total and a histogram indicating when the rain was recorded. The color of the badge indicates whether the field received a significant amount of rain which could impact your ability to work in that field. In Bushel Farm, a significant amount of rain is .1" or more. Daily rainfall history is expressed as a 24-hour total beginning at 1200 Z (GMT), with longer periods simply being a summation of multiple 24-hour periods. 1200 GMT is used as the beginning time for a 24-hour total because it is the start of the "hydrologic day", a standard used in river modeling. 1200 GMT coincides with 8 AM EDT, 7 AM EST, 7 AM CDT, 6 AM CST, etc.

• Blue rainfall badge = significant rain (.1" or more)
• Gray rainfall badge = less than .1" of rain

If there has been no rain in the past 24 hours the last significant rain event and the time the rain event was recorded is displayed.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS
In addition to a recent rain report, a 24-hour forecast is also located on the field index card. This section reports a brief summary of the rain and wind forecast for the next 24 hours.

• Rainfall - forecast includes all predicted rainfall for the next 24 hours
• Wind gusts - forecast includes greatest wind gusts predicted during daylight hours

Rain & Heat History

Rain History is the most up to date and accurate rainfall data in-app because NOAA gauge corrects historical rainfall for up to 48 hours after the rainfall event takes place. Historical rainfall is reported in daily and cumulative totals:

• The daily rainfall charts indicate the amount of rainfall received on a field between 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM (your local time) on that day.
• The cumulative rainfall charts indicate the total amount of rainfall received on a field across multiple dates.

If you log a planting activity to a field, the rainfall amounts will be specific to the growing season rather than the calendar year.

Note: This feature is currently only available in the continental United States. You can check out plans and pricing information here.