Climate and Ag in the news
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Dr. Cliff Mass of the University of Washington has a nice discussion of how the weather conditions across the United States are expected to change as the sun goes dark tomorrow with the solar eclipse. In the Southeast, temperatures could drop by more than 10 degrees in some areas near totality. You can read about…
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I’ve heard stories from folks from time to time about how their aches and pains and headaches are correlated with a variety of weather conditions. Maybe you have too. But a recent research report published earlier this month, there is very little physical evidence to prove it. The researchers found that Google searches related to…
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Traffic in advance of Monday’s total solar eclipse is already causing blockages of some roads leading into and out of the region of totality. Dairy farmers there depend on regular movement of trucks into and out of the area to bring in feed and take away milk, so they have been concerned about how the…
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Clint Thompson of the University of Georgia pointed out in a recent article in Growing Georgia that irrigated corn has done less well this year in terms of expected yield than dryland corn. The combination of conditions that may be too wet for corn coupled with the lack of sunlight due to the cloud and…
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NOAA released their latest global climate summary today for July 2017. Their analysis shows that for the earth as a whole, it was the 2nd warmest July on record just barely behind 2016 by 0.09 degrees F since records began in 1880. The total for the year to date from January to July was also…
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In my meetings this week I was reminded that many farmers use USDA planting zones to determine what varieties of trees and crops to plant. Hardiness zones are related to the average coldest day of the year. Here is an interesting comparison of how these zones have changed over time due to the warming trend…
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One of the issues that this wetter weather has had on crops in the Southeast is an increase in fungal diseases of both leaves and roots. This article from Growing Produce shows the consequences of wet soils on young apple trees, which grow in cooler areas of the Southeast like the Appalachians although it is…