I want a reliable free weather app made for farming, not just a general one. What do you recommend?
3 Answers
For Indian farmers the most useful free apps are IMD Mausam, Meghdoot and Damini, plus the Kisan Suvidha app, because they are official and built for farm needs. Mausam, by IMD, gives a 7 day district forecast, current weather and warnings for heat wave, cold wave, heavy rain and so on. Meghdoot, by IMD and ICAR, gives a district agromet advisory twice a week in local languages with rainfall, temperature, wind and crop advice, which is exactly what you need for decisions. Damini, also by IMD, sends lightning alerts so you can take shelter, which matters in fields. Kisan Suvidha bundles weather with prices, advisories and other services. Many state agriculture departments and KVKs also send free SMS or WhatsApp advisories, so register your number with your local KVK. Use an official app rather than only a generic global weather app, since the official ones are tuned to Indian districts and add the crop advice. They are all free, so install Mausam and Meghdoot first.
Meghdoot for crop advice and Damini for lightning. Damini once warned me in time to get out of the field before a strike nearby.
I also get SMS from my KVK twice a week. Registering my number was free and the advice is for my own block.