Climate and Ag in the news
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Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Keeling Curve, which showed (and is still showing) the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory. We passed the 400 ppm mark in 2013 and the carbon dioxide levels are continuing to grow at an increasing rate (with the seasonal variation overlaid…
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I was surprised to learn today that avocado trees fruit much more heavily on alternate years. Last year was a “down” year and supplies were low. This year is an “up” year, which means that they should be easier to find and probably cheaper, too. The Packer noted that supplies from California, Mexico and Peru…
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Here is an interesting set of photos of a small development on the North Sea taken from 2001 to the present which shows how much the coast there has eroded over the last couple of decades. We should be glad that our geology in the Southeast is a bit different than this! You can view…
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This week the USDA published a new 38-page report which contains information on the possible range of changes that we can expect to see across the United States through the end of the century. The changes include minimum temperature and associated plant hardiness zones, degree days, and drought severity. As you might expect, the changes…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
If you like to look at clouds, you might already know that the type of clouds you see can give you some clues as to what kind of weather that are likely to occur. Here is a short article from The Conversation which describes six different types of clouds and what they can tell us…
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If you have been following international weather news, you will know that unusual orange-tinted snow has been occurring in parts of Europe. You might wonder why this is happening. Some pink-tinted snow is caused by algae that grow in the snow. But in this case, the orange coloring is coming from Saharan dust which is…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Vidalia Onion Committee announced that the official start of the Vidalia onion season this year will be on April 20 at 8 am. This compares to last year’s start on April 12 and 2016’s start on April 25. This year’s winter has been somewhat warmer than 2016 but…