August 2018
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The latest Crop Production Report from the National Ag Statistics Service was released today and shows that many crop yields in the Southeast are expected to be significantly larger than last year, especially peaches, which suffered from lack of chill hours and a late frost last year. In some cases, the yields are likely to…
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A friend of mine sent this video clip from an old television show called “Bell Telephone’s Science Hour” made in 1958. It was directed by Frank Capra, the famous movie director. This clip was from an episode called “The Unchained Goddess” which was about the weather. Amazingly, I remember this program being shown at a…
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Most of the readers of this blog probably do not use GIS in their daily work, but if you do, here is a unique opportunity to try out a new GIS portal for climate data from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Here is information on how to access the GIS files from Natalie Humphlett…
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If you’ve been following news about the record-setting California wildfires this summer, you may have heard that wildfires in California are increasing due to more droughts due to climate change. However, when you look at the data, the statistics are a bit more nuanced. Cliff Mass of the University of Washington has crunched the numbers,…
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Corn yields in North Carolina should be down this year after a challenging start to the year according to the Southeast Farm Press here. Wet and cold conditions in spring made planting and establishment of the corn plants tough, and dry and hot weather this summer have stressed the plants. Yields are expected to be…
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While here in the Southeast we’ve had plenty of rain this year, out west is a different story. The drought in Texas and the Southwest has caused a lot of problems for livestock producers, including water supplies drying up and lack of food. You can read more about the impacts of the drought in Drovers’…
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The latest outlook for El Niño was released by NOAA today. It shows that even though the signals for the impending El Niño event have weakened slightly, the forecast for an event occurring by next winter is still likely, although the actual event may hold off until fall instead of in late summer as previously…