Climate and Ag in the news
-
The Packer noted today that Vidalia onion farmers are optimistic about this year’s harvest. The mild winter created good conditions for the onions, and they largely missed the impacts of the mid-month frost. The result is expected to be a generous harvest of onions, many on the large size even with an earlier than usual…
-
The record of the blossoming date of cherry trees in Kyoto, Japan, is one of the longest phenological records climatologists have. Historical information on the blossom date goes back all the way to 812 AD, although nearly continuous records are not available until 1406 AD. The dates have recently been compiled into a single record,…
-
Today there is a large tornado outbreak underway in Louisiana, and the system is moving east and will affect our area on Monday. The screen capture of today’s radar below shows not only a strong line of severe storms moving through Louisiana today but multiple individual supercell thunderstorms ahead of the line. Many of these…
-
The Vegetable and Specialty Crop News published an article this week on the impact of weather on Florida peaches. Research is showing that peach leaf rust is a big issue for Florida peaches. According to the article, “Due to Florida’s hot, humid and rainy summers, peaches are much more susceptible to the rust. The disease can…
-
Following the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, both the Soviets and the United States went into a flurry of satellite building. As part of that race to space, on April 1, 1960, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite (TIROS-1), the world’s first successful weather satellite.…
-
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted this morning that a variety of local spring crops are making an early appearance in stores this year due to the extremely warm winter and spring we have been having. In addition to local strawberries, asparagus, onions and pea shoots are all available in markets around the area. They are showing…
-
The Southeast Farm Press published a couple of stories today about frost damage the mid-March frost on the wheat crop in North Carolina. According to the story here, wheat in the eastern part of the state survived very well, but fields in the Piedmont were almost a total loss. You can also see some pictures…