Since going live in June 2017, Weathermelon's subscriber base continues to grow and is on the road to becoming the online community where produce industry professionals get and share weather information all in one place. In addition to the Weathermelon app, the Weathermelon community also resides on FB, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
In Summer 2015, the idea for Weathermelon was born when David Robidoux, a tomato broker, read an article on Yahoo Sports about baseball great Mike Trout and what a big weather buff he is. The article stated that Trout had multiple weather apps on his phone because he tracks the weather as a pastime. Robidoux got to thinking about how he personally tracked the weather for his role as a fresh produce marketer. He began to wonder if there was a way to consolidate information into one app instead of having to check multiple sources. To take it a step further, Robidoux wanted to provide a “one-stop shop” where produce marketers could stay ahead of the weather.
James Galindo, Senior Sales Representative from Oppy has used the Weathermelon App since its launch. “Every early morning, I get weather notifications from all over the US and Mexico which help me determine where markets might be heading in the near future and how it will effect volumes in the distant future. Being able to specifically select the produce item to track is what separates this app from any other weather application out there,” said Galindo.
“If you can stay ahead of the weather, you can stay ahead of availability, sourcing and pricing,” said Chad Barton, Robidoux’s partner in Weathermelon and lifelong friend. Barton had experience building apps and he was able to figure out how to consolidate weather forecasts from a variety of sources with historical data built into the mix. “It was a long process,” according to Robidoux. “We went through a few developers before we found the one that got our vision and knew how to capture all the data necessary to present a reliable 10-day forecast.” The Weathermelon App pulls data from USDA, as well as industry and weather experts and influencers. “People can go about their day and know tomorrow morning when they wake up they will be informed about any weather issues affecting their commodities without lifting a finger. Our alerts keep them in the know,” said Robidoux. “Buyers, sellers and growers will never be caught off guard by weather issues ever again.”
The Weathermelon app includes these features:
- Consolidated lists of global growing regions for each commodity
- 10-day detail forecast for each region
- Current radar maps (US only)
- Estimated harvest start/end dates for each commodity
- Monthly average high/low temps for each region
- Custom daily alerts for temperature, precipitation and severe weather based on 10-day forecasts.
Weathermelon was created with community involvement in mind. Says Robidoux, “We want Weathermelon to be more than just a weather app. We want it to be the place where produce industry professionals go to get information and share information.” And as Barton says, “We wanted to take the work out of following the weather!”
Contact:
Terri Mouton
Weathermelon
Cell: 818-929-4255