Pam Knox
-
In a big change from the past few weeks, rain is expected across most of the region over the next two weeks, bringing some relief to farms and farmers who desperately need it. This week, we expect to see a good bit of rain this weekend, with lighter rain early next week and then more…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The dry conditions that have grown across a lot of the Southeast in the past few weeks have put a lot of stress on many crops, but probably none more so than corn. As I have driven across Georgia in the past couple of weeks, I have seen a lot of dryland corn fields looking…
-
Do you know why summer is the hottest season? It’s not because the earth is closest to the sun then. In fact, on July 5 the earth reached its farthest distance from the sun, a point that is called “aphelion” (I think of it as “a” for “away”). The Northern Hemisphere is hottest in June…
-
Hope you all have a wonderful (if hot) holiday celebrating our American independence with family and friends. If you are in areas that are very dry, please be cautious shooting off fireworks due to the lack of rain. No one wants their picnic ruined by a fire!
-
Due to the hot weather and almost complete lack of rain other than a few scattered showers, much of the Southeast is now in drought or abnormally dry conditions other than southern Florida and a few other areas of Georgia and Alabama. This rapid decline of conditions has caused loss of some corn crops during…
Posted in: Drought -
The final outlook for July 2024 shows that the Southeast is expected to experience a strong heat wave for July 2-8, contributing to a likely July temperature that is expected to be warmer than normal. You can read more about the heat wave at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/key_messages/LatestKeyMessage_1.png. Based on the warmer than normal temperatures coupled with precipitation…
-
In the Southeast, agricultural producers have started to add new crops to the mix of traditional commodity and specialty crops as the climate and the markets have been changing. Some of those crops include cold-hardy citrus in Georgia and Alabama, olives, and pomegranates. Here is an interesting story in National Geographic about how the warming…