February 2018
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The climate for the first half of February 2018 in the Southeast shows warm conditions across most of the region, especially in the southern areas. Quite a change from January! Wet conditions are apparent in the northern sections, but drier than normal conditions are present in the Florida peninsula and along the Atlantic coast. This…
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Normally I don’t post political stories on this blog, because they make everyone mad and don’t promote either good climate science or agriculture. But as a former National Weather Service employee I was unhappy when I read an article today on Yahoo News which described the effects that the budget recently released by President Trump…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Weather Underground published an interesting analysis of severe weather this year earlier in February. Considering how cold the East Coast has been, it’s probably not a big surprise that severe weather, which is usually linked to thunderstorms, would be limited this year. By comparison, last year there was well above-normal activity. Still, I did not…
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According to the NASDAQ newsletter, a heat wave in Argentina has increased stress on corn and soybeans already being threatened by drought in South America. Fortunately, a wet start to the growing season has so far limited the worst consequences of the drought, but if they don’t get more rain soon, yields are going to…
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Ten miles off the coast of Alabama, an underground cypress forest is being studied by scientists to help learn about the climate of 50,000 years ago, when the forest was alive, according to a recent story by National Public Radio. The ice-age forest may be able to provide new clues about how forests grew in…
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The Post and Courier published a long-form story this week on the changes that are occurring along the South Carolina coast, including erosion, changes to the marshes, and rising sea levels. Much of this is also occurring in the Georgia and North Carolina regions. The story has a wonderful description of the marshes now and…
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The National Drought Mitigation Center has posted their monthly drought summary for the entire US online. You can read it at https://drought.unl.edu/NewsOutreach/MonthlySummary/January2018DroughtandImpactSummary.aspx.
Posted in: Drought