Efficient use of rainfall is an effective strategy for saving irrigation water. To ensure rice yield and enhance rainfall utilization efficiency in rice cultivation, the water-saving irrigation strategies were proposed based on short-term weather forecast, considering the drought and flood tolerance characteristics of rice. Field experiments were then conduced. In strategy Ⅰ, irrigation was applied only if no drainage was forecasted within five days after irrigation. Otherwise, it was withheld. If there were three consecutive days of decision not to irrigate, then mandatory irrigation would occur on the fourth day. Strategy Ⅱ followed the same rules but applied only half the irrigation amount. Using field trial data from 2023 to 2024, a quantitative comparative analysis was conducted between water-saving irrigation strategies and conventional irrigation strategies. Results showed that strategy Ⅰ and strategy Ⅱ reduced irrigation water use by 11.385% and 22.935% on average compared with the conventional strategy over two years, without reducing yield. Rainfall utilization was increased by 4.71 percentage points and 6.045 percentage points, respectively. In terms of irrigation frequency, strategy Ⅰ reduced two irrigation events in both years, while strategy Ⅱ kept the same events as the conventional strategy in 2023, but required nine additional irrigation events in 2024. Strategy Ⅱ significantly improved rainfall utilization by applying small dose irrigations with more events. In conclusion, the proposed weather forecast-based strategies, which involved delaying irrigation during drought periods to maximize short-term rainfall, significantly reduced the risk of yield loss and improved rainfall utilization. These strategies ensured rice yield, saved water, and reduced emissions, offering significant benefits for smart irrigation decision-making in southern China.