In the 21st century, understanding weather means a lot more than knowing if it's going to rain or not.
Local companies are using forecasts to monitor growing stages and plan for pesticide use. Karla Jackson of Weather Innovations says temperature and rain levels can be used to even predict disease.
"We also have disease models for crops like tomatoes. So if they want to monitor if they're at risk for things like early or late blight, which is based off of humidity and rain," she says.
Jackson adds they can also successfully predict the best time for farmers to harvest different kinds of crops.
