November 2021
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According to an article this week in Southeast Farm Press, entomologists say that this year’s infestation of fall armyworms is the worst that they have seen since the 1970s. According to the story, “There were many elements that led to this massive infestation. The biggest factor was the perfect storm of environmental conditions. These conditions…
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The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that moderate (D1) drought has expanded significantly in North Carolina and has been introduced into smaller areas of South Carolina and Virginia. This is due to the lack of rainfall over the last week. This is likely to get worse on next week’s map because there is almost…
Posted in: Drought -
In climatology, we talk about internal and external causes of climate variations. These can include things like how much sunlight is hitting the earth, volcanic eruptions, cloud coverage across the globe, and changes in the land surface. Here is an insightful article describing how internal and external variability in climate are both important but different…
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Do you love to look at amazing photos of weather events? I do! Here is an article from Science Focus that discusses a new book published by the Royal Meteorological Society that includes photos from the last five years of their weather photo contest. The twelve photos here are a fantastic compilation of just a…
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The latest monthly summary for North Carolina for October 2021 was released today by the NC State Climate Office. You can read it at https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2021/11/october-bewitched-by-warmth-and-bedeviled-by-drought-development/.
Posted in: Climate summaries -
It’s the time of year when I start to get questions about the likelihood of frost in the next week. Fortunately, there is a new online experimental tool available to help producers look ahead to see the likelihood of frost for at least the next six days. It was developed by NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center…
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The harvest of cotton and other Southeastern crops is moving quickly. Some areas have been hit by rains which dampened the cotton, reducing quality and slowing the cotton picking. However, as this story from the Southeast Farm Press makes clear, the weather in North Carolina really cooperated with growers this year, leading to record-setting yields…
Posted in: Crops