HotHog vs Weather Alert App

HotHog provides hourly and daily predictions of thermal comfort and stress in non-pregnant, mid-gestation, and late-gestation sows based upon a decision support tool developed through a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant by scientists with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the University of Illinois, and Purdue University. Specific HotHog features are: • Thermal index categories include: cool, comfortable, warm, mild heat stress, moderate heat stress, and severe heat stress. • Users can set specific geographical locations and may refer to their current location for predictions. • HotHog provides hourly and daily temperature predictions along with daily precipitation predictions. • Physiological and behavioral changes associated with each thermal index category are provided by selecting the pig icon. • Management observations and mitigation options associated with each thermal index category are provided by selecting the fan icon. • By selecting the paper and pencil icon, users can build their own thermal index through temperature, gestation stage, and relative humidity inputs. • The gear icon takes the user to a settings page where they can: 1) edit their individual profile, 2) set preferences such as dark/light mode or Fahrenheit/Celcius, 3) find information on how the decision support tool and HotHog were developed, 4) make considerations for use of HotHog, and 5) report problems with HotHog or ask specific questions pertaining to swine thermal stress.

Weather Alert is a multi-facet mobile weather application designed to 1) increase awareness in times of extreme weather, and 2) assist Kentucky farming operations with management and production-related decisions. Established in 2023, initial project funding for WeatherAlert was provided by a collaboration between the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention (SCAHIP - https://www.uky.edu/scahip/), and Central Appalachian Regional Education and Research Center (CARERC - https://www.uky.edu/erc/). Designed and hosted by the University of Kentucky Ag Weather Center and Center for Computational Sciences, this application was created with safety in mind. Extreme weather events have increased in frequency over recent decades. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, a total of 85 billion dollar weather and climate disasters have impacted Kentucky since 1980. Fifteen have occurred in the past 5 years, alone, including unprecedented flooding across Eastern Kentucky in July of 2022 and one of the most prolific tornado outbreaks in Kentucky history on December 10, 2021. Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of “if” we see another disaster, but “when”. WeatherAlert garners the ability to not only send out severe weather alerts and distribute essential weather updates, but also serves as a critical resource for Kentucky Cooperative Extension in terms of emergency preparedness and response. Agriculturally-speaking, WeatherAlert incorporates a number of tools and models available from the University of Kentucky Ag Weather Center. Established in 1978, the goal of the Ag Weather Center is to minimize weather and climate-related surprises for Kentucky residents and their agricultural needs, ultimately for profitable and sustainable production.