07/09/07 Watching the Weather

Watching the Weather. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. This year's field burning season in the Willamette Valley is about to begin. As always, grass seed growers and valley residents will rely on some expert weather forecasting this summer. In the next week or so, the first of what could be up to 65-thousand acres of grass seed fields will go up in flames in the Willamette Valley. That's a far cry from the 1980s when a quarter million acres were subject to field burning. But just as it was back then, it's very important to monitor the weather for the proper conditions. That's where former TV weather forecaster Pete Parsons comes in. PARSONS: I'm very familiar with the weather patterns around here. I've been forecasting weather for over 20 years for this region. So there's nothing really new to what I'm doing. What I am doing that is new and that's exciting for me is that I'm looking at the weather patterns in a slightly different way. Parsons is the new meteorologist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. He will look for the best possible conditions for allowing field burning this summer. PARSONS: One of the things about this position I like is I'm able to see the impact of what I do right away. The idea is to keep the air quality clean for everyone while we're providing a service to the growers in the state that need do what they are doing. Field burning is still an important management tool for Oregon's 481-million dollar grass seed industry. While the amount of acreage burned each year has dropped considerably, the goal continues to be keeping smoke out of populated areas. Parsons says there is no additional pressure in his new position to get the weather forecast right compared to when he was on TV. PARSONS: No, not really. I always try to get it right whether I'm doing it for one person or I'm doing a service for 100,000 people or, in this case, I'm doing a service for a million people when I do the forecast every day. It really doesn't matter. I'm always trying to get it as accurate as I possibly can. Parsons says with new computer models and other tools for weather forecasting, it is easier to accurately predict the right time to allow field burning. PARSONS: There's more information available, there's really quick ways for us to look at the data, and we know what we're looking for. It would make sense that we would be able to do a better job each year than we could the year before. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.