Equipment consisted of Adcon Telemetry meteorological weather stations that collected data each minute, averaged the data over 15 min. and sent the data via radio telemetry to a central base station where expert software calculated the mildew index and reported it automatically. Growers accessed the graphical or tabular information by modem on their personal computers. The system was privatized in 1996 by Western Farm Service statewide except the northcoast, Terra Spase in Napa and Sonoma counties, Weather Net in Paso Robles and San Joaquin county, and Ag Unlimited in Mendocino County, and has grown to 32 base stations and over 425 weather stations and is used in every production area of California. Location of Adcon weather stations in California. Red triangles indicate the location of base stations.
Green diamonds show location of weather stations.
The latter system has also incorporated the powdery mildew index. The weather stations are made available through grants and thus far there are an additional 30 stations used in the program. Terra Spase has initiated an additional feature for their program participants. In addition to receiving the normal graphical or tabular data, they also have access to regional GIS maps which are available on a daily basis. One of these maps is shown below and represents powdery mildew risk index for June 16, 1998.