Climate and Ag in the news
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We are almost at the end of April, and a look at the Southeast Regional Climate Center’s Perspectives tool shows that for many stations in the Southeast, the year to date temperature is the warmest on record. Many other stations are in the top two or three warmest years so far. You can try out…
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One reason for the big decrease in drought in North Carolina this week which I mentioned in my drought post earlier today was the tremendous rains that occurred in North Carolina. The Washington Post‘s Capital Weather Gang described the downpour in an article here. Raleigh received 6.68 inches over two days, the seventh highest 2-day…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Today is the sixth anniversary of one of the worst tornado outbreaks on record, rivalling the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974. Many large and horrifically damaging tornadoes occurred from Mississippi to Tennessee, destroying homes and businesses and killing and injuring many. Here are some selected video remembrances of the storms. Weather Channel video: Anatomy…
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Sammy Fretwell of The State has published two related stories this week on the growth of very large farms which are replacing forests in South Carolina. In one article it says that “In the past four years, out-of-state agribusinesses have purchased nearly 10,000 acres in the Edisto River basin, chopped down forests and established mega…
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If you are interested in watching the progression of the summer melting of the ice sheet on Greenland, you will find the web site for the National Snow and Ice Data Center useful. You can see daily updates of the melting conditions from satellites at https://nsidc.org/greenland-today/. Why do we care? A melting Arctic can change energy…
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The bright orange and pink clouds in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” have long been thought to be a product of a volcanic eruption, most likely the very large eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruptions shoot sulfuric acid droplets and ash high into the atmosphere, producing spectacular sunsets around the world that have been linked…
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As I was browsing today, I ran across this really interesting article on how most people are killed or injured by lightning. Surprisingly, direct strikes only cause issues 3-5 percent of the time. The greatest cause of problems is ground current, where lightning hits the ground and travels along the surface (especially if the ground…