June 2017
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EarthSky posted a short article this week about the top five questions meteorologists get asked about tornadoes. While many parts of the US experience their peak tornado season in May or June, in the Southeast we can and do get tornadoes any month of the year, so it is especially important to know what to…
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As a meteorologist, I hear frequent jokes about having a job where you can be wrong most of the time and still get paid. It might surprise you to know that weather forecasts have improved dramatically in recent years due to a combination of more observations (mostly from satellites), larger and improved computer models, and…
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While I don’t often talk about politics in this blog, after this week I think it is important to address climate change and its impacts on agriculture and why so many scientists are so worried about what is going to happen to our climate in the future. I know from experience at many meetings that…
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A very wet week is expected for the Florida peninsula this week, with most areas expected to see several inches of rain. That is likely to put a dent in the drought that has developed in that region over recent weeks. The rest of the Southeast is also expected to get good rainfall in the…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The May 2017 climate summary from North Carolina is available at https://climate.ncsu.edu/climateblog?id=235&h=5666e5c1. The climate summary for Florida is at https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/products-services/summaries?id=510. Here is the text summary for the whole Southeast Region: (Information provided by the Southeast Regional Climate Center) Temperatures were near average across much of the Southeast region (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
As summer temperatures across the Southeast continue to rise as they have since the 1970s, exposure of outdoor workers to conditions favorable for heat stress is also increasing. If you have workers that spend a lot of time out in the heat, you are most likely already encouraging them to take breaks in the shade,…
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Here’s an interesting story about how apple production has changed due to changes in how the trees are grown using new dwarfing rootstocks. The example is from Washington State, but I’m sure that this change in management style is occurring all over the US. You can read it at NPR here.