Climate Intelligence
The Climate Intelligence module provides comprehensive climate analysis for your farm, powered by 44 years of NASA POWER satellite data (1981–present). Understand long-term trends, assess crop suitability, detect extreme events, and make data-driven decisions based on your farm’s actual climate history.Historical Data
Place observation points on the map and explore 44 years of temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and more.
Crop Suitability
See how well your local climate supports 6 major crops with weighted scoring across 5 factors.
Extreme Events
Detect heat waves, droughts, severe frost, and storms — with trend analysis and return periods.
Rainfall Analysis
Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) drought classification with deep rainfall decomposition.
Accessing Climate Intelligence
- Navigate to Climate in the left sidebar
- The Climate Intelligence hub opens with a sidebar (desktop) or grid menu (mobile)
- Select any of the 6 analysis sections described below
All climate data comes from NASA POWER (Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources), which provides daily satellite-derived parameters at a 0.5° grid resolution (~55 km). Data spans from 1981 to the present and is updated regularly.
Historical Climate Data
Explore your farm’s complete climate history through interactive visualizations and multi-point comparison.Placing Observation Points
- Click anywhere on the map to place a climate observation point
- Points are automatically snapped to the nearest NASA POWER 0.5° grid cell
- You can place up to 3 observation points for side-by-side comparison
- Points are color-coded: blue (1st), emerald (2nd), amber (3rd)
Available Visualizations
Temperature Profile
Temperature Profile
Annual mean temperature chart (1981–present) with area fill and linear trend line overlay. Shows long-term warming or cooling trends at your location.
Annual Rainfall
Annual Rainfall
Bar chart of yearly precipitation totals with a moving-average trend line. Quickly spot wet and dry years.
Soil Moisture Trend
Soil Moisture Trend
Dual area chart showing root-zone and surface soil moisture percentages. Critical for understanding water availability trends.
Extreme Events Frequency
Extreme Events Frequency
Multi-line chart tracking frost days (<0°C), heat days (>35°C), heavy rain days (>20 mm), and longest dry spells per year.
Monthly Heatmap
Monthly Heatmap
A year × month grid where each cell is color-mapped to the selected metric. Switch between temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture views. Covers all 44 years across 12 months — a Hovmöller-style visualization.
Decade Comparison
Decade Comparison
Tabular comparison of average/max/min temperature, precipitation, frost days, heat days, and soil moisture across decade-long periods.
All-Time Records
All-Time Records
16+ records including hottest/coldest year, wettest/driest year, most frost days, best GDD accumulation, longest dry spell, and more.
Advanced Climate Analytics
Analyzes long-term trends using 5-year period comparisons, with a focus on growing season shifts and drought probability.Growing Season Shift Analysis
Tracks how your growing season is changing over time:| Metric | What It Measures |
|---|---|
| Last Spring Frost | Is the last frost occurring earlier or later? |
| First Autumn Frost | Is the first frost arriving sooner or being delayed? |
| Frost-Free Season Length | Is the growing window expanding or shrinking? |
| Growing Degree Days (GDD) | Is heat accumulation increasing or decreasing? |
Drought & Wet Spell Probability
- Per-decade dry spell statistics: Mean and maximum dry spell duration
- Monthly drought risk heatmap: Color-coded grid showing drought probability for each month across historical periods
- Rain-day comparison: Wet days per period to visualize rainfall frequency changes
Crop Suitability Scoring
Evaluates how suitable your local climate is for 6 major crops, producing a weighted composite score from 0 to 100.Supported Crops
Winter Wheat, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean, Rapeseed, and Barley.Scoring Factors
Each crop is evaluated across 5 climate factors with crop-specific weightings:| Factor | Description |
|---|---|
| GDD Match | How well accumulated heat matches the crop’s optimal Growing Degree Day range |
| Precipitation Match | Total historic rainfall vs. the crop’s water requirement |
| Frost-Free Days | Number of days with minimum temperature above 0°C vs. crop season length |
| Heat Stress | Days above the crop’s damage threshold |
| Soil Moisture | Root-zone moisture adequacy |
Visualizations
- Crop selector cards with score badges — click a crop to see its detailed breakdown
- Radar chart showing all 5 factor scores at a glance
- Gauge bars for each factor showing actual value vs. ideal range (green = ideal, amber = suboptimal, red = poor)
- Period evolution chart showing how suitability has changed over 5-year periods — useful for identifying crops that are becoming more or less viable due to climate change
Extreme Events Detection
Identifies and categorizes extreme weather events from your 44-year climate record, tracking how their frequency is changing.Event Types
| Event | Category | What It Detects |
|---|---|---|
| Heat Wave | Heat | Sustained periods of high temperatures |
| Extreme Heat | Heat | Single-day extreme maximum temperatures |
| Severe Frost | Cold | Damaging minimum temperatures |
| Major Drought | Drought | Extended precipitation deficits |
| Heavy Storm | Precipitation | High-intensity rainfall events |
| Many Storms | Precipitation | Elevated storm frequency periods |
| Short Season | Season | Unusually few frost-free days |
| Long Season | Season | Unusually many frost-free days |
Trend Analysis
Each event type receives a trend badge:- More frequent — Occurring more often in recent periods
- Less frequent — Declining occurrence
- Stable — No significant change
- New — Event type appeared only in recent data
- Disappeared — Event type no longer occurring
Return Periods
Estimated frequency for each event (e.g., “1 in 5 years”), helping you assess risk for insurance, planning, and infrastructure decisions.Climate Records
Tracks all-time climate records across 4 categories and detects whether records are being broken more frequently.Record Categories
| Category | Example Records |
|---|---|
| 🌡️ Temperature | Hottest year, coldest year, highest/lowest single-day temps |
| 🌧️ Precipitation | Wettest year, driest year, highest daily rainfall |
| ❄️ Frost & Heat | Most frost days, most heat days, earliest/latest frost |
| 📅 Season | Longest/shortest frost-free season, highest/lowest GDD |
Key Features
- “RECENT” badge — Records set within the last 10 years are flagged, indicating your climate may be pushing new extremes
- Record-breaking timeline — Visualize when records were set or broken
- Near misses — Events that came close to breaking existing records
- Monthly extremes — Best/worst values broken down by month
Rainfall Analysis (SPI)
Deep rainfall decomposition using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), a widely-used meteorological drought indicator.SPI Classification
| SPI Value | Classification |
|---|---|
| ≥ 2.0 | Extremely Wet |
| 1.5 to 1.99 | Very Wet |
| 1.0 to 1.49 | Moderately Wet |
| −0.99 to 0.99 | Near Normal |
| −1.0 to −1.49 | Moderately Dry |
| −1.5 to −1.99 | Severely Dry |
| ≤ −2.0 | Extremely Dry |
Analysis Sections
Annual Rainfall Timeline
Annual Rainfall Timeline
Year-by-year totals with a moving average to identify long-term trends.
Seasonality Breakdown
Seasonality Breakdown
Monthly precipitation distribution patterns — understand your wet and dry seasons.
Dry Spell Analysis
Dry Spell Analysis
Duration and frequency of rainless periods across your climate history.
Rainfall Intensity
Rainfall Intensity
Distribution of daily rainfall amounts — how rain falls, not just how much.
Anomaly Detection
Anomaly Detection
Years that deviate significantly from the long-term mean.
Period Comparison
Period Comparison
Side-by-side statistics across 5-year periods for trend identification.
Soil Moisture Coupling
Soil Moisture Coupling
The relationship between rainfall patterns and soil moisture response — how effectively does rain translate to usable soil water?
You can compare rainfall patterns across multiple observation points using the multi-point selector. This is especially useful for farms that span different microclimates.
Data Sources & Resolution
| Source | Resolution | Coverage | Update Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA POWER | 0.5° grid (~55 km) | Global, 1981–present | Daily (few days lag) |
Climate Intelligence operates at the farm level — it analyzes your farm’s geographic location against the full NASA POWER archive. For field-specific daily data with higher precision, see the Climate Intelligence Tab within each field’s detail page.