NWS offers forecasts during calving season

Among the many forecasts issued by the National Weather Service office in Aberdeen is one targeted at how the weather will impact calves in their first hours of life.

Four times a day, what’s known as the Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock is updated.

Simply put, it serves as a tool cattle producers can use during calving season that lets them easily see if dangerous weather is expected in the next 12 to 24 hours, said Dave Hintz, of the NWS Aberdeen office.

“It’s basically for the livestock (that are) less than 24 hours old,” he said. “It’s just a very quick and easy visual for the livestock producer.”

When bad weather is expected, the reports give ranchers a chance to bring their cows ready to calf in, if needed, Hintz said.

Eight Weather Service offices from Aberdeen west to Pendleton, Ore., are issuing the Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock reports. They’re updated at 2 and 10 a.m. and 2 and 10 p.m. each day.

For now, the forecasts are considered an experimental project, Hintz said. But there’s talk about rolling them out nationally because they are simple to produce. They use information forecasters compile and enter anyhow, then a program collects that data and produces the color-coded maps, he said.

He said the reports take into account temperatures, wind speeds, humidity and sky cover.

The project started at the NWS office in Glasgow, Mont., with a focus on the effect of weather on people, but it eventually shifted to have a livestock focus, Hintz said. The first reports were issued in Glasgow during the winter of 2008-09.

For now, he said, the Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock reports are for cattle and sheep. But there’s talk that future forecasts could expand to include other animals, including swine and poultry, Hintz said.

A new Aberdeen Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock webpage is in the works, he said.

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Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock Key

Green / none: Wind chill above 41 degrees

Pale yellow / slight: Wind chill of less than 41 for two or more hours

Yellow / mild: Wind chill of less than 32 for two or more hours

Orange / moderate: Wind chill of less than zero for two or more hours or wind chill of less than 32 degrees and at least 0.02 inch of precipitation

Red / severe: Wind chill of 9 below or colder for two or more hours or wind chill of less than 32 degrees and at least 0.05 inch of precipitation

Deep red / extreme: Wind chill of 18 below or colder for two or more hours or wind chill of less than 32 and at least 0.1 inch of participation

Find the Aberdeen region reports at crh.noaa.gov/abr/canl/forecasts.php or search Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock from the Aberdeen NWS homepage at crh.noaa.gov/abr/.