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Forecasting for Farmers: Weather Wisdom with Matt Dixon
61 Plays2 days ago
In this episode, the Hort Culture team welcomes Matt Dixon, senior agricultural meteorologist at the UK Ag Weather Center, for a deep dive into Kentucky’s unpredictable weather patterns and their impact on farming. Matt shares how his love for both meteorology and agriculture—rooted in his watermelon-tossing youth—led to a career helping farmers interpret and respond to volatile weather conditions. The conversation covers climate trends, how the Kentucky Weather Alert app supports growers statewide, and why Mesonet stations are vital for hyper-local forecasting. Matt also reflects on memorable weather events, explains what makes Kentucky’s weather so wild, and previews future updates to his app designed specifically for agriculture. A must-listen for anyone who starts their day by checking the radar.
National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP)
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@l.uky.edu
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast Theme
00:00:03
Jessica
you
00:00:16
Alexis
Hello, welcome to the podcast where we know a lot about plants and a little bit about technology.
00:00:21
Plant People
Very little bit about technology.
00:00:21
Alexis
have
00:00:23
Plant People
Normally this program that we use to bring the podcast to you is relatively trouble-free, but that's relatively
Guest Introduction and Background
00:00:31
Plant People
trouble-free.
00:00:31
Alexis
Well, we have the unpredictable weather that is Kentucky, and it only is fitting that our guest today is the is the man, the myth, the legend, as promised.
00:00:32
Plant People
Very unpredictable today.
00:00:40
Brett
The man, the meteorologist, the legend.
00:00:43
Matt Dixon
ah
00:00:45
Plant People
This is the hop crew today, man.
00:00:47
Alexis
This is the most hype we've ever given for anybody, Matt. We're so excited.
00:00:50
Jessica
Yeah.
00:00:50
Plant People
I know.
00:00:50
Plant People
What about that?
00:00:50
Alexis
You have your own app, so...
00:00:51
Brett
I was telling people that you were going to be on this.
00:00:52
Jessica
My dad might actually.
00:00:55
Brett
Oh, yeah, your dad's a fan, right?
00:00:55
Plant People
We're excited.
00:00:56
Matt Dixon
Very cool, very cool.
00:00:57
Jessica
I was going to say my dad might actually listen to one of these finally, like not even when I was like a guest and then became like a co-host, like he might actually listen to this one because, because our guests today.
00:01:10
Brett
Yeah, so we're having Matt Dixon, and the people said, not not the Matt Dixon.
00:01:10
Alexis
and
00:01:14
Plant People
The Matt Dixon.
00:01:14
Brett
I said the very one.
00:01:14
Alexis
oh the the matt dixon of
00:01:15
Matt Dixon
The man.
00:01:17
Brett
The very one.
00:01:17
Jessica
of the Ag Weather Center.
00:01:18
Brett
We love your your forecast, your emails, your app. We're going to get into it, but we are big fans.
00:01:24
Plant People
Listen, people, he doesn't make the weather.
00:01:24
Matt Dixon
Very cool.
00:01:26
Plant People
He just
Features of Kentucky Weather Alert App
00:01:27
Plant People
reports on it. So don't blame him.
00:01:28
Matt Dixon
Yes. Don't blame me.
00:01:29
Alexis
was
00:01:29
Plant People
Don't blame him.
00:01:30
Matt Dixon
Don't throw tomatoes at me.
00:01:30
Jessica
But he does a good job.
00:01:30
Plant People
that's
00:01:31
Plant People
a
00:01:31
Brett
Uh-oh.
00:01:31
Plant People
Yes. Tomatoes from hort culture.
00:01:32
Alexis
saying you're pretty you're pretty accurate so in comparison to a lot of people
00:01:35
Jessica
Farmers, farmers everywhere appreciate you.
00:01:39
Matt Dixon
appreciate I appreciate it.
00:01:40
Alexis
It's the the first app I check. So listen, we we had a whole episode of about what farmers, ah like kind of day in the life of farmers. and we And the first thing was like, we wake up, we look at the weather and we check all of our weather apps.
00:01:50
Jessica
how many weather apps we have.
00:01:56
Alexis
And then it was like how many weather apps do you have? Which I'm now curious about. How many weather apps do you have?
00:01:59
Brett
Yeah.
00:02:01
Matt Dixon
It's a competition now. No, ah I got several on my phone, but honestly, my app's only one I use now just because there's no ads on it.
00:02:09
Jessica
um
00:02:10
Matt Dixon
And ah yeah, yeah.
00:02:11
Plant People
Oh, yes.
00:02:11
Brett
So powerful.
00:02:12
Jessica
That's true. yeah
00:02:12
Plant People
That is the right answer.
00:02:13
Plant People
Perfect.
00:02:14
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:02:14
Plant People
Perfect.
00:02:15
Brett
I love that.
00:02:15
Plant People
He's not going cast shade at anyone, not to make a weather pun.
00:02:17
Alexis
i I've probably been saved from multiple lightning strikes because your app is the only one that I allow pop-ups to come on and it says, hey, lightning's been detected in your area. And I'm like, I'm safe.
00:02:28
Matt Dixon
I'm safe.
00:02:28
Brett
Well, let's, let's lead, let's lead with an ad for your podcast.
00:02:29
Matt Dixon
Get in that car.
00:02:32
Brett
I mean, sorry, for your app. What is it called in case people are wanting to, to download, they get tired of the next episode of horticulture and they'd rather download your app.
00:02:34
Jessica
Yeah.
00:02:41
Alexis
Look at the weather.
00:02:42
Brett
What's it called?
00:02:43
Matt Dixon
Now, it's called Kentucky Weather Alert. it It came together last, I guess it was March we finally released It was about a year in the making. But you can find on either app store, type in Kentucky Weather Alert,
00:02:56
Matt Dixon
It's a green lightning bolt a logo, easy to find. I will say we are competing with some of the higher downloaded apps out there. So just look for that green lightning logo and you'll be good to go.
00:03:09
Matt Dixon
so
00:03:09
Brett
It's only a competition in in their minds, not in the not the minds of the of the fans out there.
00:03:11
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:12
Alexis
Yeah.
00:03:14
Brett
So like you have an app, you're doing all this cool stuff. You're clearly have a certain celebrity status, at least with the nerds ah available here on
Role and Impact of Agricultural Meteorology
00:03:23
Brett
this podcast. But like, what is your, I guess we can start with your title, but like, what is your actual job?
00:03:27
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:03:30
Brett
Cause you are, you're affiliated with the university, right?
00:03:30
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:03:32
Brett
But you're also doing all this other stuff out in the world that is well beyond.
00:03:32
Matt Dixon
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:36
Matt Dixon
Yeah, a little different from your typical meteorologist out there. You see on that 6 p.m. news broadcast or whatnot.
00:03:41
Alexis
Hmm.
00:03:43
Matt Dixon
I'm an agricultural meteorologist. I specifically work in Kentucky Extension. So I'm here to help the farmers, producers, your average Kentuckian across the state, mainly with their agricultural weather needs. But here the past five, 10 years, severe weather changes.
00:04:00
Matt Dixon
has ah come to the forefront. So helping, trying to keep people safe in these severe weather situations, whether it's winter weather, whether it's severe weather, ah you name it. But on the side, i I'll also work for Kentucky Athletics. I work the football games, making sure everyone's safe in the case of lightning entering the area, help out the university with closures during the winter months.
00:04:28
Matt Dixon
um Those big ice storms we saw in early January, there that's that's fun stuff. But yeah, my main job here, providing those tools and models, helping out Kentucky farmers and producers with their ag weather needs.
Matt Dixon's Meteorology Journey
00:04:43
Alexis
They do need it and they do use it.
00:04:44
Jessica
oh
00:04:44
Plant People
That covers a lot of ground. That's a pretty broad scope of work.
00:04:48
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
00:04:49
Plant People
And I knew that Alexis and I were going to ask it. I won't ask her question, but I'm also very curious. Alexis said she was going to ask you.
00:04:55
Alexis
Uh.
00:04:57
Plant People
so we'll we'll have to share it, I guess.
00:04:58
Alexis
Oh yeah. so
00:04:58
Plant People
Alexis, yeah.
00:04:59
Alexis
first of all, I want to know how you got into meteorology.
00:05:03
Plant People
I always want to know.
00:05:03
Alexis
And part of that question is, were you chasing tornadoes in college? Because I feel like that goes along with it.
00:05:10
Matt Dixon
Well, first off, I have chased tornadoes, but here in Kentucky, i grew up in southwestern Indiana.
00:05:13
Plant People
Oh, okay. Yeah.
00:05:19
Matt Dixon
Indiana is the same way. Not necessarily the best place to chase tornadoes.
00:05:24
Alexis
Sure. Sure.
00:05:25
Matt Dixon
Out in Oklahoma and Kansas and whatnot, you can see the supercell coming from miles and miles away, but
00:05:29
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:05:31
Matt Dixon
not not really here in our neck of the woods but uh yeah i grew up in southwest indiana a little town called vincent's it's about our north of evansville and ah growing up i was always as interested in the weather in some capacity um especially severe weather tornadoes were fascinating to me while that was all happening i was working on a watermelon operation
00:05:38
Plant People
yeah
00:05:57
Matt Dixon
Uh, I love the farming aspect to toss watermelons, plant them. You named it. If I could be honestly, tell you guys the truth. If I could be tossing watermelons right now, that's what I'd be doing.
00:06:09
Matt Dixon
So, um,
00:06:10
Jessica
We love that.
00:06:11
Plant People
Well, maybe if the wind's blowing hard enough, the watermelons will toss themselves.
00:06:11
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:06:15
Matt Dixon
yeah Yeah, there you go.
00:06:15
Plant People
I mean, maybe it relates to that.
00:06:16
Matt Dixon
There you go. But yeah, I had the agricultural side. i had the interest in weather. Back in 2005, there was at the time a F3 tornado that passed through the Evansville area.
00:06:29
Matt Dixon
And ah I don't know, ever since that event, it just kind of pushed me into the profession. And i ended up going to Purdue University. ah Boiler up, boiler up.
00:06:41
Matt Dixon
I tell everybody UK gives me a paycheck and I'll support UK, but I'm still bleeding black and gold in my veins. But got got my degree in atmospheric sciences there, went on to Mississippi State, got my graduate there and been at UK ever since 2012.
00:06:48
Alexis
<unk> fair fair
00:06:58
Matt Dixon
Arrived right in the middle of a drought that year. So that was a fun start to my tenure here.
00:07:01
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:07:04
Matt Dixon
But ah yeah what, 27 more years till retirement? So that's awesome.
00:07:09
Alexis
no one's counting it's fine
00:07:10
Matt Dixon
So...
00:07:10
Plant People
Yeah, it's going to be a little while.
00:07:12
Brett
So we can put to rest rumors that the Glenn Powell character in Twisters was based on you.
00:07:19
Plant People
You.
00:07:19
Brett
i just i don't know if it was like a similarity or I don't know, but it was not.
00:07:19
Matt Dixon
Oh, oh, oh.
00:07:22
Matt Dixon
It's...
00:07:24
Brett
In fact, you were you were more of a watermelon man than ah and a cowboy.
00:07:27
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah, most definitely so. I just watched that movie a a couple days ago for probably the third time or whatnot.
00:07:29
Alexis
account
00:07:29
Jessica
Oh,
00:07:35
Matt Dixon
But, well, I'll tell you guys.
00:07:35
Plant People
For like research or...
00:07:39
Matt Dixon
Of course, I'm a weather nerd. i'm I'm all about those movies and everything. But I actually liked the second Twisters movie.
00:07:46
Alexis
Okay.
00:07:47
Matt Dixon
I don't know if you all have seen it yet, but they they put in a lot of safety messages in there for the public.
00:07:50
Jessica
well,
00:07:52
Alexis
Look at them go.
00:07:53
Brett
Yes, I noticed that.
00:07:54
Jessica
that's good.
00:07:54
Matt Dixon
Yes, they...
00:07:55
Plant People
Yeah, the old one was just every man for himself.
00:07:55
Brett
It felt like ah like a PSA integrated into a film.
00:07:57
Plant People
Yeah.
00:07:58
Matt Dixon
Exactly.
00:07:59
Brett
Yeah.
00:07:59
Matt Dixon
And I'm, I'm fully in support of that.
00:07:59
Plant People
Yeah.
00:08:02
Matt Dixon
I mean, um, in terms of safety messages, the facts were there, maybe the Hollywood stuff. I, yeah, don't know, but, but, uh, I, I thought they did all right job.
00:08:13
Matt Dixon
I appreciate those safety
Gardening and Weather Forecasting
00:08:15
Jessica
Cool.
00:08:15
Matt Dixon
tips throughout the movie.
00:08:16
Matt Dixon
So yeah,
00:08:17
Alexis
It's like when we watch movies and we go, that plant doesn't grow there. That's not that's some right.
00:08:20
Jessica
Right.
00:08:20
Matt Dixon
yeah, yeah.
00:08:21
Plant People
Yeah.
00:08:21
Jessica
Right. They are not filming in that actual location.
00:08:22
Plant People
The tree that's blowing by and the tornado, we're like, no, that tree's out of place.
00:08:22
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:08:25
Alexis
No, that doesn't grow in Kansas.
00:08:25
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:08:27
Alexis
That was a palm tree.
00:08:27
Jessica
Yeah.
00:08:28
Plant People
Well, that explains, I guess, ah some of your watermelon background.
00:08:28
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:08:32
Plant People
It explains, because I know meteorology is a big field, and I guess that guided you specifically in, but but how is um like your your daily chores different being a meteorologist that primarily develops a lot of the information for farmers? like How is that different than just a general person that may be on the news or whatever, just in another field of meteorology?
00:08:53
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah. so I just go through the week. What I typically do here in Ag Weather Center, I'll start out my week. I write the USDA um crop progress and condition report, the weather summary for it.
00:09:03
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:09:07
Matt Dixon
So I'm summarizing for farmers, producers what happened the past week. Of course, we started out April with ah a monsoonal type of storm system.
00:09:18
Jessica
yeah
00:09:19
Matt Dixon
um But the past two weeks, it's actually dried out, and farmers have really enjoyed that. But we're always working on tools and models in the background. We provide point ag forecasts that give farmers an idea of what spraying conditions will be like, drying conditions.
00:09:35
Alexis
Mm-mm.
00:09:36
Matt Dixon
Maybe you go to the livestock side, livestock heat stress, livestock cold stress. Getting that information out to the farmers because a lot of those folks out there, farming and producing,
00:09:42
Jessica
Right.
00:09:48
Matt Dixon
They won't get that information from your local 6 p.m.
00:09:51
Alexis
and
00:09:52
Matt Dixon
newscast. And even on top of that, we try to give high-resolution forecast data, so hour by hour instead of your general daily information.
00:10:02
Matt Dixon
So as a farmer, you want to know, when is that rain going to start? When is it going to stop?
00:10:06
Alexis
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:10:07
Jessica
right
00:10:07
Matt Dixon
How much rain are we going to get?
00:10:09
Matt Dixon
Is it going to keep me out of the fields the next
00:10:10
Alexis
yeah
00:10:12
Matt Dixon
uh, four or five days. What's soil temperatures like? Is it, is it okay for me to go put corn and beans in the ground? Are they going emerge, uh, within 10 days?
00:10:18
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:10:21
Matt Dixon
So, um, things of that nature. I'm, I'm really trying to help out the community. Horticulture, you all, I put in my newsletters, um, you know, frost freeze dates.
00:10:31
Matt Dixon
I know that's important to you all. I will say, ah and I don't want people to get out into the garden too quick, but i I'm about to play at my garden now. so
00:10:44
Plant People
Oh, yeah.
00:10:45
Matt Dixon
ah
00:10:45
Alexis
Yeah.
00:10:45
Matt Dixon
It's the forecast. We're in the 70s this week. ah Looking at the outlooks, they're very warm going out into early May.
00:10:48
Plant People
um one hand
00:10:54
Matt Dixon
So honestly, personally, by the time we get into May, our chance of having another freeze is, i don't want to say slim to none, but very low probability. And based on those outlooks, I'm kind of, I'm debating on going ahead and putting my warm season vegetables in the ground.
00:11:11
Plant People
I just talked about trying to beat my neighbor with tomatoes.
00:11:11
Matt Dixon
so
00:11:12
Brett
We were asking about that. Yeah.
00:11:14
Plant People
So now I've got the green light, you guys.
00:11:16
Jessica
Yeah, you got it.
00:11:17
Plant People
Let me tell you, I'm going to be visiting a local greenhouse this afternoon. Be like, Matt said this is fine.
00:11:21
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:22
Alexis
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:22
Plant People
But yeah, it looks like the extended forecast, a lot of warm weather looks like here.
00:11:26
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:26
Plant People
on ah
00:11:26
Matt Dixon
I've been getting antsy and yeah.
00:11:27
Jessica
Yeah.
00:11:27
Plant People
Excited.
00:11:28
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:11:28
Plant People
Yeah.
00:11:30
Alexis
Ooh!
00:11:30
Brett
Well, so i'm yeah before b before we continue on the weather, ah you know, this is a a podcast for people who love horticulture, love gardening.
00:11:31
Jessica
Okay.
00:11:40
Brett
what does Matt Dixon's garden look like?
00:11:42
Matt Dixon
ah what
00:11:42
Brett
I'm talking like, what's the, what's the, is this in ground of these raised beds?
00:11:43
Alexis
a o
00:11:45
Brett
What kind of crops are you growing?
00:11:45
Alexis
o
00:11:46
Matt Dixon
Well,
00:11:47
Brett
I mean, take, give us a picture.
00:11:47
Plant People
Now you're getting personal.
00:11:49
Matt Dixon
that's a good question. um So I have so much clay in my backyard. I had to go raise garden beds.
00:11:58
Alexis
Love it.
00:11:58
Matt Dixon
and i built three of them uh the past several years it's been tomatoes cucumbers peppers uh green beans have been big for us i will say i've tried i grew up growing watermelons and cantaloupe i can't grow them for the life of me in kentucky so yeah yeah they i mean back in vincent's we had sandy ground and it just thrived on the yeah
00:12:16
Plant People
I heard clay soil. So yeah, it may not be the most conducive. Yeah.
00:12:23
Jessica
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:12:23
Plant People
Good for those vine crops.
00:12:24
Plant People
Yeah.
00:12:24
Matt Dixon
yeah but uh around here not so much so uh disappointing but it is what it is i tried strawberries the past couple years but apparently i don't have a green thumb for that so i honestly ripped up all the strawberries and replaced it with warm season vegetables so yeah
00:12:42
Alexis
Fruit's weird, you know? It's it's okay.
00:12:45
Matt Dixon
yeah yeah
00:12:46
Plant People
Fruits its own thing. Once you get out of the vegetable world, it is a little bit tougher.
00:12:49
Alexis
Yeah.
00:12:51
Plant People
It is.
00:12:53
Matt Dixon
But tomatoes seems pretty straightforward.
00:12:53
Jessica
hu
00:12:56
Matt Dixon
So that's probably best for me.
00:12:57
Plant People
And you, You mentioned, well, you you gave a timeframe when you first started talking. i was real curious. What did you say? Like the last five years, whether you referenced kind of weather events, big weather events.
00:13:07
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:13:08
Jessica
Thank you.
00:13:09
Plant People
Is that like a more recent phenomenon or is that like a trend or or what's going on there?
00:13:15
Matt Dixon
So...
00:13:15
Plant People
Because there's this awareness that people have of a lot of big events have happened here
Weather Trends and Challenges
00:13:20
Plant People
recently. We get that question a lot.
00:13:21
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you look at, there there's a um there's a website called the National Centers of Environmental Information, and they track billion-dollar disasters across the United States.
00:13:35
Matt Dixon
And if you look at the data, now these are big-time disasters, obviously, a billion dollars worth of damage, but... Those disasters are increasing in frequency across the U.S., and that includes the state of Kentucky individually.
00:13:49
Matt Dixon
So if you go from the eighty s to the 90s, 2010s to now now where we're at, we see the frequency of these disasters still increasing.
00:13:54
Plant People
Thank you.
00:14:00
Matt Dixon
On top of that, always always tell folks, we just 10-plus inches across western Kentucky a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, whatever it is now.
00:14:08
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:14:10
Matt Dixon
Those type of events, not quite the 10, but maybe three to four inches here or there, ah big time rainfall event, we're seeing those happen more frequently throughout the year. And really with this warmer climate we've been seeing here the past decade, warmer air can hold more moisture.
00:14:29
Matt Dixon
So if a storm develops, we can see more heavy rainfall produced from that storm. So back when I was a kid, Indiana, you saw a one, two inch rainfall event.
00:14:40
Matt Dixon
That was a big time storm.
00:14:41
Alexis
Yeah.
00:14:42
Plant People
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:42
Jessica
uh-huh
00:14:42
Jessica
huh
00:14:43
Matt Dixon
Now we're seeing one, two inch rainfall events all the time.
00:14:46
Matt Dixon
And it's the three to four inch rainfall events that are really causing issues.
00:14:46
Plant People
yeah
00:14:50
Matt Dixon
But, you know, the past five years, 10 years, we saw the thousand year rainfall event across Eastern Kentucky couple years ago.
00:15:00
Alexis
yeah
00:15:00
Matt Dixon
Um, those thousand year rainfall events, there are thousand year rainfall events, but they're happening more frequently. St. Louis got hit the day before by a thousand year rainfall event. Um, you guys might saw the news.
00:15:11
Matt Dixon
i think it was 2023 Loretta Lynn's ranch, West of Nashville got decimated by a thousand year rainfall event, but, um,
00:15:16
Alexis
and
00:15:18
Jessica
Right.
00:15:19
Matt Dixon
um Hurricane Helene moving through the Carolinas and Tennessee.
00:15:21
Alexis
yeah
00:15:22
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:15:24
Matt Dixon
um So these type of events, they're happening more frequently now. And I guess part my job is trying to get people prepared for these things, because even if you're out in Western Kentucky and not Eastern Kentucky, you're still going to see issues from 10 plus inches of rainfall.
00:15:39
Jessica
right
00:15:39
Matt Dixon
So, yeah.
00:15:40
Alexis
right
00:15:41
Plant People
It's unbelievable. I mean, are the models, is the technology keeping up with that? I know a lot of these things, you know, they're always evolving, but I mean, how are you guys as meteorologists, how are the tools changing to kind of meet this, these new patterns that you're seeing or these newer patterns?
00:15:55
Matt Dixon
Yeah, you know, I teach a class in biometeorology during the spring semester, and I always start out the class showing showing them where we were. and where we are now, and it's pretty amazing.
00:16:06
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:16:08
Matt Dixon
I can't think of the name of it. My boss, he got here in the early 80s, and he was teaching his class with these little projector slides. I don't know what it is, but um if you put it up to the light, you can see a radar image.
00:16:18
Plant People
Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:23
Matt Dixon
You talk about pixelated, oh my gosh. And compared to where where we are now today, radar capabilities, our satellite imagery has taken another leap.
00:16:35
Jessica
Thank you.
00:16:36
Matt Dixon
And our models, high resolution models, have again taken another step. But the way technology is advancing, the way we're going to be using AI here in the future years, it yeah, yeah.
00:16:47
Plant People
I was just going to ask, how does AI play into all of this and things like modeling and predictions? I mean, is that part of it that's evolving too?
00:16:54
Matt Dixon
and it's it's part of it. It's going to be probably a larger part in the years moving forward. um Just how quick technology is advancing nowadays is kind of mind-blowing to me.
00:17:08
Matt Dixon
So we'll see where it goes. I'd like to speak more on the topic, but I'm not the guy in the background creating these models. So um yeah, I'm the one using them, I should say.
00:17:18
Plant People
Yeah.
00:17:21
Matt Dixon
But Yeah, it's it's never going to be a perfect science.
00:17:25
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:17:25
Matt Dixon
There's too much in the atmosphere to take into account. We have to make a lot of assumptions in these models.
00:17:30
Jessica
Here.
00:17:32
Matt Dixon
ah But we're getting we're getting better and better every day. Yeah.
00:17:39
Plant People
Yeah. You mentioned, oh, go ahead, Jessica.
00:17:39
Jessica
you were
00:17:41
Plant People
Yeah.
00:17:41
Jessica
Oh, well, I was saying you were talking about like some of the historical stuff that you guys have to look at. I know um i personally had used you guys still manage the mesonite stations and you have all the historical records of like temperatures and
Kentucky Mesonet and Data Utilization
00:17:56
Jessica
stuff.
00:17:56
Jessica
Because when I was in grad school finishing up a grad project that came in handy looking at those temperature dates that I needed to look at from like months or years ago and could track like fluctuations over a time.
00:18:01
Matt Dixon
Well, yeah.
00:18:06
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:18:07
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:18:09
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:18:09
Jessica
So super handy.
00:18:10
Matt Dixon
Well, i I will tell you guys that Kentucky Mesnet is ran through Western Kentucky University.
00:18:16
Jessica
Oh.
00:18:17
Plant People
Oh.
00:18:17
Matt Dixon
Yeah. there're Absolutely awesome network they have down that way. But they are kind enough to give us the data and the background so we can input that information into our tools and models in the Weather Center um for folks across the state.
00:18:35
Matt Dixon
So I can't say enough good things about the Kentucky MESnet. I think they have over 80 weather stations now, research quality weather stations.
00:18:42
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:18:44
Matt Dixon
And there's not a lot of states across the U.S. that have a network like we do. So. uh,
00:18:49
Plant People
Is there ah apps or ways that people like residential folks and commercial folks that can tap directly into that network? It seems like there is like different ways that you can interface with that data just with Mesonet, isn't there?
00:19:02
Matt Dixon
Yeah. Yeah. If you go to their website, kymesonet.org, you can get all the current conditions, look at past daily data, hourly data. But also they have their own app also.
00:19:14
Matt Dixon
So um either store either the Google Play store or the iOS store, just ah search for Kentucky Mesonet.
00:19:14
Plant People
Okay.
00:19:15
Jessica
um
00:19:23
Matt Dixon
It should pop up. But
00:19:24
Jessica
you
00:19:24
Matt Dixon
Nice thing about that is as living in Scott County, I live pretty close to the spindle top weather station on the north side of Fayette County.
00:19:32
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:19:34
Matt Dixon
So I have that saved on the Kentucky Mesonet app and I can just pull that up and see how much rain I got since midnight, what the temperature is like, so on and so forth.
00:19:35
Plant People
Yeah.
00:19:41
Plant People
I wonder where we live in Scott County.
00:19:42
Matt Dixon
So.
00:19:43
Plant People
I wondered what was the nearest mesonet and I don't know, and I should know.
00:19:45
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:19:46
Plant People
So that's the one over by spindle top then.
00:19:47
Matt Dixon
yeah Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, Scott County does not have one yet.
00:19:52
Plant People
Yeah.
00:19:52
Matt Dixon
I have talked to the folks down at the Kentucky Medicine. Their goal is to have a station in every county eventually.
00:19:59
Plant People
Oh, nice.
00:19:59
Matt Dixon
um Now that, that takes money.
00:19:59
Jessica
Thank you.
00:20:02
Alexis
Yeah.
00:20:02
Matt Dixon
um So it might be a little bit, but yeah, that's, that's their ultimate goal.
00:20:02
Plant People
Yeah.
00:20:06
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:20:06
Plant People
I heard somebody refer to those as almost like boots on the ground, ah hardware on the ground, I guess you could say, where it's extremely localized, which is, i imagine, a good thing as far as data, ah you know, gathering that data from very local points.
00:20:08
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:20:10
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:20:20
Matt Dixon
Well, and yeah, we can input, like i I mentioned, we input that data into our ag tools and models, but it's not just us. ah The National Weather Service can use that Kentucky Mesonet to decide whether maybe they need to issue a severe thunderstorm warning based on that Kentucky Mesonet recording 60 mile per hour wind gust at some point in time.
00:20:43
Matt Dixon
Transportation cabinet may use it. Energy may use it. So, It can be used for a wide variety of purposes across the state. So
00:20:52
Alexis
Matt, do you have a personal weather station?
00:20:55
Matt Dixon
so
00:20:57
Alexis
are you like, I need to go home and not look at it?
00:20:57
Matt Dixon
ay
00:21:00
Matt Dixon
So one of the best pieces advice, I'll never forget this, and I always tell the guy this.
00:21:05
Jessica
Thank you.
00:21:07
Matt Dixon
One of the National Weather Service meteorologists back when I was at Purdue, they went on a road show to Purdue, Valparaiso, Ball State. And he always told me, he goes, Matt, everyone's always going to be asking your opinion about the weather.
00:21:23
Matt Dixon
But he goes, you got to have your own time too. So after you clock out at 5 p.m., go do your thing. So I personally, you call me crazy. I don't have my own weather station at home. i I generally have a good idea what's going on at any point time.
00:21:40
Alexis
yeah
00:21:41
Matt Dixon
But I do have a small rain gauge in my backyard.
00:21:41
Plant People
Yeah.
00:21:45
Matt Dixon
I'll check periodically. But yeah, so.
00:21:47
Alexis
Good for you. ah Jessica and I ah deal with plants all day long and then we go home and farm because we don't have boundaries.
00:21:50
Plant People
With all it,
00:21:54
Alexis
So we need to learn from Matt, Jessica.
00:21:55
Jessica
Right, right. Right.
00:21:58
Jessica
That's, yeah.
00:21:58
Plant People
there needs to be a clear delineation.
00:22:00
Plant People
Yeah.
00:22:00
Jessica
As I already mentioned, my dad's big fan, and it was a big deal when he finally got, he's a farmer, he finally got an iPhone that he resisted, but then I, like, told him how he could get all the weather apps, and at the time, it was before you all had your app, so I created a shortcut on his iPhone so he could go directly to your website, because he'd always check your all's website, so he was, like, ecstatic when you guys came out with an app, too.
00:22:16
Matt Dixon
There you go.
00:22:21
Matt Dixon
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:24
Jessica
So,
00:22:24
Jessica
so Yeah.
00:22:24
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:22:26
Matt Dixon
And what what we're looking to get bigger with this app.
00:22:26
Jessica
Boundaries.
00:22:31
Matt Dixon
So um I guess we haven't really talked about it a whole lot, but phase one has came out and we're going to be moving on to phase two here pretty soon.
Future Plans for Weather App Development
00:22:42
Matt Dixon
But phase one we want everybody to be prepared across the state for the potential for severe weather winter weather you name it so we do have alert capabilities i think alexis mentioned that earlier um if there is a severe thunderstorm warning tornado warning you name it frost advisory issued by the national weather service bees buzz buzz beep beep straight to your phone you know about it
00:22:54
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:23:06
Jessica
you
00:23:08
Matt Dixon
Um, if there is lightning within 15 miles of your area, and this is especially important for agriculture, I don't want anybody on that, um, on that tractor, open air cab when there's lightning in that area.
00:23:23
Matt Dixon
I know, know, I know, I know and i preach this to everybody. I know it's a very low probability that you ever get struck by lightning. but there's always that chance.
00:23:32
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:23:33
Matt Dixon
So having that alert on your phone to let you know there's lightning within 15 miles of your area, um get to that car, get to that house, you name it.
00:23:37
Jessica
you
00:23:43
Matt Dixon
So, but,
00:23:44
Plant People
Does that app also do precipitation like it says rain in 15 minutes kind of thing or whatever?
00:23:49
Matt Dixon
So we don't do the rain in 15 minutes. We have a very high resolution radar on there.
00:23:55
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:23:56
Matt Dixon
You can be as much of a weather nerd as you want to be. um You can put storm tracks on it. You can overlay it with the NWS watch boxes and warning polygons. you can put lightning strikes on there and you can look at the difference between cloud cloud to cloud and cloud to ground lightning strikes.
00:24:08
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:24:12
Matt Dixon
So that's another example of how far technology has came. We can look at the difference between lightning strikes now. But, um, I do have my ag weather update as a tab in there.
00:24:27
Matt Dixon
Currently, um, there's a disaster is the UK A&R disaster preparedness page.
00:24:31
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:24:33
Matt Dixon
So a lot of folks have been accessing that after this last flooding situation. And we had another flooding situation February this year. I tend to forget about, but that was arguably worse than April.
00:24:42
Alexis
Yeah, a lot has happened this year already.
00:24:45
Matt Dixon
But, uh,
00:24:46
Plant People
Yeah, there's been it's been so much, yeah.
00:24:48
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, phase two coming up, we're going to be surveying, maybe have some focus groups with farmers and producers. We want to make sure this is exactly what you all want.
00:25:01
Matt Dixon
So we are going to modernize our website. I believe the goal is to make a county by county ag weather product.
00:25:09
Alexis
Well...
00:25:09
Jessica
Nicole
00:25:09
Matt Dixon
that that will be displayed in the app you just select your county or um there is some talk maybe it's gps based and just go straight to that that forecast so um it's a process there's there's a lot of loopholes we got to jump through it's uh i never could have fathomed everything in the background that went into developing a weather app so blows my mind
00:25:14
Alexis
Sure.
00:25:37
Plant People
It seems like something like that, I guess I would think it'd be kind of complicated with all the data that it munches through and then displays whatever's relevant to whoever's using the app.
00:25:46
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:46
Plant People
I mean, it seems like it is dealing with a lot of input.
00:25:50
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah. And on our side, we are taking in data from the National Weather Service. We're taking in data from the Kentucky Mesonet, other resources across the United States.
00:25:56
Jessica
cool
00:26:01
Matt Dixon
And then we have to transform all that data in the background and then send it to the foreground. um So you guys can see that in a pretty easy way.
00:26:12
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:26:12
Jessica
cool
00:26:12
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:26:13
Plant People
Now, as far as breaking down all that data, I know that you're working with farmers, but do you get into the nitty gritty of like even specific crops and like corn and wind?
00:26:21
Matt Dixon
Thank you.
00:26:24
Plant People
I mean, do you ever, i mean, is that part of the reporting that you do as far as getting into specific, you know, things to watch for like high tunnels, high winds, you know, coming in alerts there, or how do you deal with the specifics of, of, of, on the ag side?
00:26:37
Matt Dixon
Yeah, and i this is what i'm I got several ideas going on in my head with phase two, but I'm wondering about pushing out alerts if you agree to it on your phone for ag-specific threats or just ag-specific alerts.
00:26:51
Alexis
Yeah.
00:26:52
Plant People
Yeah.
00:26:52
Jessica
Right. Yeah.
00:26:57
Matt Dixon
maybe Maybe you have strawberries that are in bloom.
00:27:01
Jessica
right yeah
00:27:01
Matt Dixon
ah maybe Maybe we have minimum temperatures dropping below freezing.
00:27:02
Alexis
yeah
00:27:06
Matt Dixon
Maybe you need to cover those strawberries. so
00:27:08
Plant People
Large hail and watermelons. Watch out.
00:27:10
Matt Dixon
Large hail and watermelons. So it's things of that nature.
00:27:11
Plant People
Yeah.
00:27:13
Matt Dixon
I'm really thinking through for the app. Right now, my only way of doing that is putting out a newsletter. Maybe I go through UK Ag Communications to send out a media article.
00:27:25
Matt Dixon
um Maybe I'm on NPR, you name it, giving an interview. But yeah, so some of those ideas.
00:27:33
Alexis
you can now find him on in the ccd newsletter given something specific for specialty crops so shameless plug right there ah for that but you and you've done some updates in your newsletter on like when you know winds are coming up and the temperatures are right for things like you know mildews for orchard sprays and things like that and that really guides farmers so that they're not spraying when they don't need to
00:27:36
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:27:39
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:27:42
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:27:57
Alexis
um And I think that's been really helpful, you know, for a variety of of people who do that kind of stuff.
00:27:58
Jessica
hu
00:28:04
Matt Dixon
Yeah, it's it's all ultimately my whole goal is to help with ah
Kentucky's Unique Weather Patterns
00:28:09
Matt Dixon
those management and production-related decisions and ultimately just try to minimize weather and climate-related surprise for farmers and producers across the state.
00:28:09
Jessica
You
00:28:17
Alexis
Yeah.
00:28:18
Matt Dixon
You guys know it here. I mean, if you don't like the weather today, it's going to be different tomorrow.
00:28:22
Jessica
oh
00:28:23
Matt Dixon
And sometimes it can be a lot to handle.
00:28:27
Alexis
ah
00:28:28
Matt Dixon
And just trying to keep everyone up to date, that's my whole goal. Yeah.
00:28:32
Alexis
I think people don't really believe us when we like tell non-Kentuckians that say, you know, if you don't like it today, just wait till tomorrow.
00:28:38
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:28:40
Alexis
And it's like, no no, we mean it. Like, we're serious.
00:28:43
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:28:43
Plant People
We've had so much discussion on that with Master Gardeners my current class, and I hope I've instilled in them an appreciation for the fact of our transitional zone and the nature of Kentucky, neither not being north, not being south, and ah kind of the challenges that sometimes that brings out.
00:28:43
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:28:53
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:28:55
Jessica
Thank you.
00:28:59
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:29:00
Plant People
Yeah.
00:29:00
Matt Dixon
Yeah. We're just smack dab in the middle of a variety of air masses across the region.
00:29:07
Plant People
yeah
00:29:08
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:29:08
Matt Dixon
And then when we have low pressure or high pressure move through continuously, the rotation around those things, they're going to be pulling air masses from the south. They're going to be pulling air masses from the north.
00:29:19
Matt Dixon
And boom, we have a 70 degree day. It's February. Boom, we're down to the 30s again. so
00:29:25
Jessica
Thank you.
00:29:26
Plant People
Yeah, that's it. I mean, it's um it's wild to me how quick it can change.
00:29:30
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:29:32
Jessica
I have a little bit of a random question as a thinking for you, Matt. Not really random in your world, but you see sometimes like with different ah meteor ah meteorologists, right? That like some of them will be like snow is their jam, right?
00:29:46
Jessica
they They get like so excited about snow or other ones are like when it's storm season, that's like their go time.
00:29:46
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:29:47
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:29:54
Jessica
That's like what they look forward to.
00:29:56
Jessica
so do you have like a certain time that you are more like, Oh, yes. Spring. Spring storms are here or you know, or do you prefer something over the other?
00:29:56
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:30:02
Matt Dixon
I, you know, severe weather has always been my the highlight in my mind. ah i just think severe weather is so fascinating.
00:30:15
Matt Dixon
it's It's very dangerous.
00:30:15
Alexis
Wow.
00:30:17
Matt Dixon
I don't want to ignore that aspect, but um just the power of Mother Nature.
00:30:24
Jessica
Yeah.
00:30:24
Matt Dixon
I, again, I teach this weather class and I was talking to them yesterday about tornadoes. And there was a tornado, you guys probably familiar with it, out in Oklahoma, El Reno.
00:30:36
Matt Dixon
It was more than two miles wide.
00:30:38
Alexis
wow
00:30:39
Matt Dixon
There was the strongest tornado ever recorded was in 99 and it had estimated peak winds of over 300 miles per hour. And again, it just blows my mind that Mother Nature can...
00:30:54
Matt Dixon
get to that kind of level and um yeah so and i i think that's also part of just living in the midwest uh we're most susceptible to severe weather unlike maybe you live in florida or something it's hurricanes um up in minnesota north dakota yeah their highlight's going to be winter weather but um here in our neck of the woods it's it's these storms moving through so
00:30:56
Alexis
Yeah.
00:31:08
Jessica
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:31:19
Alexis
It's a little bit of everything.
00:31:20
Plant People
buts what's What's the wildest weather event? Just curious that that you've ever personally experienced.
00:31:26
Matt Dixon
That's a good question. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:27
Plant People
I mean, ah you've named some biggies out there, but I mean, as far something that's kind of personal for you.
00:31:31
Matt Dixon
So I guess number one, number two, we'll always, number one will always be the December 10th
Personal Experiences with Severe Weather
00:31:38
Jessica
hmm
00:31:38
Matt Dixon
tornado back in 21.
00:31:39
Alexis
Mm. Mm.
00:31:40
Matt Dixon
um Me and a coworker, dr chadley We were in Lexington at that time, um, at our own respective homes and whatnot. But I remember watching that tornado push through and I saw the Kentucky Mesonet on site go down.
00:31:58
Plant People
Hmm.
00:31:58
Matt Dixon
And that was my first, uh, inkling that the station got hit out there. But we went out the next day. I've never seen anything like that my life, just the absolute destruction.
00:32:10
Matt Dixon
But here closer home, um
00:32:13
Jessica
you
00:32:14
Matt Dixon
Back, man, my years are going together now. I think it was 2015, November that year. ah We had Supercell thunderstorms set up across I-64, living Georgetown.
00:32:27
Matt Dixon
We had one Supercell come across our area in Georgetown, and it produced pea-sized hail, quarter-sized hail.
00:32:29
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:32:34
Matt Dixon
I hear that tick-tack, tick-tack on the window. I took shelter. We were under a tornado warning, too. But not, I don't know, 20 minutes, half hour later, we had another tornado warning.
00:32:46
Matt Dixon
Sirens go off.
00:32:46
Plant People
yeah
00:32:47
Matt Dixon
Normally, you don't see this. One storm steals the energy from the other storm. You're done. But took shelter again. This time... just keeping the same sport.
00:32:58
Matt Dixon
I had baseball-sized hail. It sounded like the local Scott County High School baseball team was all taking swings at the top of my house.
00:33:03
Alexis
ah
00:33:06
Plant People
It was wild.
00:33:06
Matt Dixon
And yeah, I was wondering, and this just this just happened to Owensboro a few weeks ago.
00:33:06
Plant People
It was crazy.
00:33:13
Matt Dixon
there Owensboro got decimated by baseball. er It was really golf-ball-sized hail, but it was wind-driven hail. But Anyways, the next morning after this baseball-sized hail, NWS calls me and they said, Matt, you want to go on a tornado survey with us?
00:33:30
Matt Dixon
They go out on these tornado surveys to estimate how strong the tornado was based on damage. And tornado actually touched down from that same storm in Paris, Kentucky.
00:33:42
Matt Dixon
So I went over there and there was roofs torn off houses.
00:33:42
Plant People
Fantastic.
00:33:47
Matt Dixon
There was ah walls blown out, so and so forth. But this will always stick with me. I was walking around one of those houses and the homeowner came over to me.
00:34:00
Matt Dixon
And she told me her story and she heard the sirens. She went to her kitchen window. She started looking out, you know, curiosity gets the best of us.
00:34:10
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:34:11
Matt Dixon
Here comes a leaves. Here comes branches. Here comes a tree. Here comes a tornado. tornado ripped her kitchen wall out, ripped her with it, and she landed face first in her driveway.
00:34:22
Matt Dixon
and She had something like 10, 15 stitches in her lower lip.
00:34:22
Jessica
wow
00:34:26
Matt Dixon
This is 12 hours after the fact. She's still visibly shaking, but um that moment has always stuck with me. Again, Princeton, that EF4 tornado will always be number one, but ah Just going personally through that event, hearing that baseball-sized hail smack in your your house, yeah, that'll that'll always stay with me.
00:34:49
Plant People
those Those storms you described.
00:34:49
Alexis
Trying to remember what your insurance agent's name is and the process.
00:34:52
Plant People
Yeah.
00:34:53
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:34:54
Plant People
Yeah. the Those storms in Scotts County is why when ah my wife absolutely demanded when we lived on a slab, we got a in-ground storm shelter installed in concrete.
00:35:04
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:35:05
Plant People
One of the ones that, you know, GPS located and everything and well-designed, but those storms, it was not an option. My wife said, no, this is not an optional thing. It's going to be expensive, but we got, uh, that's before we purchased a home with a full basement. But, uh,
00:35:19
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:35:19
Plant People
And we, that was the best investment because that was a very active time for storms in central Kentucky. And that, that, that thing paid for itself time and again.
00:35:27
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:35:27
Plant People
and And then our neighbors, we were, think it was a 12 person ground storm shelter that was built into the garage. And it was full with our neighbors who also had slabs at the time. And we would all just be sitting down there in this tiny little bunker.
00:35:39
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:35:40
Plant People
And it was, it was, it it was, it was, it was an experience.
00:35:40
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:35:43
Matt Dixon
Well, you know, talk to a lot of folks about getting storm shelters and whatnot, and price will come up. But another way to look at it is the peace of mind.
00:35:54
Plant People
It was ah the best investment we'd ever made.
00:35:54
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:35:56
Matt Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:57
Plant People
It was great. Yeah.
00:35:58
Matt Dixon
And I'll tell you, just recently, again, both of us live in Georgetown whatnot, they put, they, Scott County invested in two storm shelters to put at the mobile home parks, the two major ones and in Georgetown.
00:36:10
Plant People
the Yeah.
00:36:13
Alexis
Yeah.
00:36:13
Plant People
yeah
00:36:13
Alexis
Yeah.
00:36:14
Matt Dixon
And um I toured one of those the other day. can withstand 185 mile per hour wind. So that would be a very strong EF4 tornado. Very low chance we ever see one of those, but still peace of mind aspect.
00:36:28
Matt Dixon
Folks know that they're safe, so...
00:36:30
Plant People
Is that a unique thing for Scott County or is that a is does that happen like in other communities?
00:36:30
Alexis
yeah
00:36:30
Jessica
Right.
00:36:35
Plant People
I've seen those, seems like, other places before.
00:36:38
Matt Dixon
Well, I believe, don't quote me on this, but I believe Scott County was funded through FEMA. um I have been talking some other counties about what Scott County did, but as far as I know, not every county across the state is going to have those.
00:36:54
Plant People
no. no
00:36:55
Matt Dixon
So, yeah.
00:36:55
Plant People
Yeah, no. I thought that was pretty neat.
00:36:57
Alexis
So we, you know, working with farmers sort of directly and a a lot of what I have heard people, you know, say is we know that weather is going it seems like at least weather is going to continue to change rapidly and kind of like large amounts.
Advice for Farmers on Weather Preparedness
00:37:15
Alexis
swings, it seems between temps or a lot of wind or a lot of rain and just sort of thinking about, you know, the sustainability of farming and and what they can do.
00:37:26
Alexis
You know, are you hearing anything in your circles as far as, you know, I know you're, you the way you're coming from it is very different than the way we come from things because we're thinking, you know, plants, right? But is there anything people can do from a farming perspective to maybe help them along the way when dealing with some of these like wild swings that we have no control over.
00:37:47
Alexis
Is there words of wisdom there?
00:37:47
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
00:37:50
Matt Dixon
I guess my words of wisdom would be be prepared, constantly constantly be checking that weather forecast because as we've been talking about this entire episode here in Kentucky, it can change pretty quickly.
00:37:55
Jessica
help
00:38:00
Jessica
um
00:38:04
Matt Dixon
But being up to date, um having a weather app on you, whether that's my app or something else, ah maybe having access to these newsletters, Extension is a great resource across the state.
00:38:11
Jessica
you here
00:38:18
Matt Dixon
I know we talked about Master Gardener. helping you out in that aspect but in terms of severe weather um making sure you're prepared for a situation um i know this is a crazy situation but my cousin works on a farm in southeastern Illinois
00:38:32
Jessica
Okay.
00:38:38
Matt Dixon
and they lost their borderline, their entire farming um operation, machinery, and you name you name it to a EF3 tornado back a couple of years ago, right before planting season.
00:38:51
Alexis
well
00:38:53
Matt Dixon
But looking at the agricultural aspect,
00:38:59
Matt Dixon
weather's changing to looking at the ag side this warmer and wetter climate we've been stuck in the past decade it's just going to keep on getting warmer these storms can hold much more water but at the same point in time flash droughts can be an issue too so as wet as we've been ah we can have these flash droughts we've seen in the past few falls um it gets extremely dry for a month now
00:39:15
Alexis
Yeah.
00:39:24
Jessica
Yep.
00:39:29
Matt Dixon
this pattern we've been in is extremely dry for a month. We might make up for that in the next month, all in one or two events.
00:39:34
Alexis
you yeah
00:39:36
Matt Dixon
So looking at our growing and grazing seasons, they've been expanding here the past decade.
00:39:44
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:39:44
Matt Dixon
But also with that warmer, wetter climate because ah comes more disease potential.
00:39:50
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:39:51
Matt Dixon
um I've been talking to people about pest pressure recently, too. So we have a warmer climate in place. Maybe there's pests that don't necessarily overwinter in Kentucky.
00:40:04
Matt Dixon
but they're able to overwinter farther north in the United States, making that migration to Kentucky that much easier. So these are things I believe farmers and producers might want to start thinking about as we go through the upcoming decades.
00:40:21
Matt Dixon
I know the focus is always going to be on the next week, what's the weather going to be like and everything, but it doesn't hurt to think long-term a little bit too.
00:40:24
Alexis
Sure, but...
00:40:28
Plant People
yeah
00:40:29
Alexis
Right, right.
00:40:30
Matt Dixon
So...
00:40:30
Alexis
And you know yeah, we like to prepare people you know for for the upcoming season or the upcoming whatever ah around here. So it's kind of one of those things like, yeah, we might have a flash drought, so maybe think about getting your irrigation in the fall.
00:40:45
Matt Dixon
yeah
00:40:45
Alexis
Or if you've been you know biting the bullet on something, you know put some money away every month for that for next year and get insurance at this stage.
00:40:55
Matt Dixon
yeah yeah it all comes back to me for that peace of mind aspect so um last past few falls the i have some um cattle producers they're like matt should i buy some extra hay for the winter months since we're already feeding now and i'm like
00:41:00
Alexis
Yeah.
00:41:12
Jessica
Right.
00:41:15
Matt Dixon
you know, peace of mind aspect. Do you really want to be worrying about that in the middle of February?
00:41:19
Alexis
yeah
00:41:21
Matt Dixon
Peace of mind. Go ahead buy it. So
00:41:23
Alexis
Yeah, that's – be prepared.
00:41:26
Matt Dixon
yeah.
00:41:26
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:41:27
Alexis
That makes sense.
00:41:27
Matt Dixon
Yeah.
App Usage and Its Broader Applicability
00:41:29
Alexis
Well, I think that ah everything you've said is wonderful. I hope everybody took advantage of it. Everybody download the apps. We're going to just see skyrocketing ah app downloads after this totally.
00:41:40
Plant People
you
00:41:41
Alexis
um And if you're not in Kentucky and you're like, wow, why don't I have a Matt Dixon?
00:41:41
Matt Dixon
Hopefully.
00:41:47
Alexis
you know maybe Maybe go to your local LandGrant University, right? They probably –
00:41:51
Matt Dixon
Well, and I'll mention, i don't think I've said it yet.
00:41:54
Jessica
Cool.
00:41:56
Matt Dixon
This app can be used anywhere across the United States.
00:41:59
Alexis
Awesome.
00:42:00
Matt Dixon
um I had a county agent that took this app with her to Aruba recently.
00:42:00
Jessica
well
00:42:06
Matt Dixon
So if you're going on vacation at Disney World this summer, take the app with you. It will, um based on your GPS location, if you got lightning in that area, it'll let you know.
00:42:17
Alexis
Nice.
00:42:17
Matt Dixon
But yeah.
00:42:18
Plant People
And what's the keywords again, Matt, for the app? If you can give a specific search keywords for that.
00:42:23
Matt Dixon
Kentucky weather alert, um, we'll, we'll put you in the best spot. Again, we're competing with the bigger weather apps out there. the amount of downloads we have aren't necessarily like the, we'll say the weather channel or weather underground yet.
00:42:39
Matt Dixon
I'll say yet, maybe we'll get there, but, uh,
00:42:41
Alexis
Yeah. You are probably the biggest weather app in Kentucky because you're the only one that's from Kentucky. So you can say that.
00:42:49
Matt Dixon
I hope. Well, and the other goal is the ag weather side.
00:42:50
Alexis
You can use that.
00:42:53
Matt Dixon
Whenever we started developing these things, I was looking on the app stores and I couldn't find a ag weather app that was free. We're Kentucky Extension. Whatever we make on the ag weather side is going to be free to you all.
00:43:05
Matt Dixon
So, yeah. so
00:43:08
Alexis
Free and no, which having no ads when you're like stressed out about a tornado is really nice to not have to deal deal with those.
00:43:14
Jessica
Great.
00:43:16
Plant People
It's like, I don't want to see these dancing bears or candy rolling across my phone.
00:43:17
Alexis
Get out of my way. I want to see the radar.
00:43:20
Plant People
Yeah.
00:43:21
Matt Dixon
and One of the best compliments I got was from a rural farmer in Boyle County. She told me this is the only weather app she's been able to use because ads aren't bogging it down.
00:43:29
Alexis
mean
00:43:30
Matt Dixon
so
00:43:31
Alexis
ye
00:43:31
Plant People
Nice.
00:43:31
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:43:32
Alexis
Oh yeah. Boyle.
00:43:33
Plant People
Lesson come.
00:43:33
Alexis
I used to be the agent in Boyle County and man, you get out there and there are plenty of places where you ain't got no service.
00:43:41
Matt Dixon
No service.
00:43:41
Plant People
Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:43
Alexis
Those people bear have have to walk up on the hill to make a phone call. So, um, that happens.
00:43:46
Matt Dixon
Yep.
00:43:48
Alexis
Well, Matt, we really appreciate you being here. ah obviously weather is a big part of what we do and what we preach about pretty much every episode. So, uh, having your wisdom is wonderful.
00:43:58
Alexis
Plus, you know, we got to all fangirl a little bit and, and that was great.
00:44:01
Matt Dixon
No.
00:44:02
Alexis
And Jessica gets to say, Don, guess who I met today? So, so that's always awesome. So check out the show notes for, you know, info on that app.
00:44:08
Jessica
Thank
00:44:13
Alexis
ah You can also, if you sign up for the Center for Crop Diversification newsletter, you will see Matt's monthly updates. Now we've wrangled him in into doing that.
00:44:20
Jessica
you.
00:44:22
Alexis
Thank you so much for that. So You can get those there. And we also put a link ah in our newsletter for yours. So if you want just a more in-depth Matt Dixon weather awesomeness, ah you can sign up for two newsletters that way.
00:44:35
Alexis
But we'll put links to that in the show notes. Shoot us an email if you have any trouble um getting that. And you follow us on Instagram. You can send us some messages there. and Again, we put that all in the show notes because we know a lot of you are driving or have gloves on and and doing something along those lines right now. So you know can't write that down.
00:44:54
Alexis
ah But we appreciate you guys being here with us today and we hope that you will join us next time. Have a great one.