Will the roof be open or closed at Miller Park? UWM’s Innovative Weather knows

The Brewers ground crew takes the field. Milwaukee’s team is partnering with Innovative Weather at UWM to get up-to-the-minute, customized forecasts that allow Brewers staff to decide whether to keep the stadium’s roof open or closed, and how to care for the natural grass field.
The Brewers ground crew takes the field. Milwaukee’s team is partnering with Innovative Weather at UWM to get up-to-the-minute, customized forecasts that allow Brewers staff to decide whether to keep the stadium’s roof open or closed, and how to care for the natural grass field.

 

It was a game day for the Milwaukee Brewers. Miller Park, with its trademark retractable roof, was filling with fans. Across town at UWM, the staff at Innovative Weather kept an eye on the small rain showers that were popping up across southeastern Wisconsin. The drizzle wouldn’t usually have bothered anyone, but one shower picked up steam over Waukesha County and made a beeline for the stadium.

“We’re about a half-hour out, and we’re saying, ‘It looks like sprinkles at this point, guys,’” said Mike Westendorf, director of operations at Innovative Weather. “We called back 15 minutes later and said, ‘You should close the roof.’”

Mike Westendorf is director of operations at Innovative Weather, which gives internships to students and recent graduates of the Atmospheric Science program who help provide customized forecasts to clients like the Milwaukee Brewers.
Mike Westendorf is director of operations at Innovative Weather, which gives internships to students and recent graduates of the Atmospheric Science program who help provide customized forecasts to clients like the Milwaukee Brewers.

Innovative Weather at UWM gives internships to students and recent graduates of the Atmospheric Science program who help provide customized forecasts to regional clients like We Energies. The Milwaukee Brewers signed on as a client last year, with Innovative Weather providing hyper-local forecasts for Miller Park during the baseball season. They’ll do the same this year.

“We were exploring weather services that could help us out in the forecasting and monitoring of weather situations,” explained Michael Boettcher, director of grounds for Miller Park. “Being that (Innovative Weather) were local here, and they do a lot of forecasting for other companies as well within the Wisconsin area, we thought that they would be a good resource for us to utilize.”

Contracting with a Major League Baseball team presented some unique challenges and opportunities, Westendorf said. Innovative Weather’s forecasts help Boettcher and his team decide whether or not to close Miller Park’s roof to prevent players and fans from being rained on.

Beyond that, there’s the field to consider. The natural grass at Miller Park requires as much of the natural elements as possible to make it a strong playing surface. Boettcher and his crew rely on Innovative Weather forecasts to determine the best care for the field. In a sense, said Westendorf, it’s agricultural forecasting on a micro-scale.

“(They want to know) things like the amount of sunshine,” Westendorf said. “If you can’t get direct sunlight, you can’t grow a plant and strengthen it to where it needs to be. So for the groundskeeper, every minute of sunshine is valuable.”

The partnership has paid off, and Boettcher has been impressed with the teamwork and dedication shown by Innovative Weather staffers.

“That constant line of communication has definitely helped us out in some situations in our decision-making process – whether the roof is closed overnight, whether it’s open, tarp goes down, tarp doesn’t go down, how much water we apply to the surface at night based on humidity levels,” Boettcher said.

Westendorf hopes that his staff’s experience with a major league baseball team can act as a springboard to expand Innovative Weather’s operations by taking on bigger clients, and to enhance the program’s reputation. Innovative Weather gives invaluable opportunities and internships to students, he said, and is one of the best programs of its size in the country.

“This is a great example of the university mission creating value for partners in our community while serving our students’ needs,” Westendorf said.

“They’ve become part of the team here at the Brewers,” Boettcher added.

 

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