Climate and Ag in the news
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According to the Washington Post, “A wildflower superbloom is underway in the desert Southwest in March after seven inches of winter rain. Anza-Borrego State Park in California hasn’t experienced a bloom so prolific since at least 1999 according to park officials.” AFAR says that a “super bloom” is a technical term which means an “overwhelming abundance”—as in the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
For at least the last 150 years, scientists have known that carbon dioxide gas is the primary source of warming in the earth’s atmosphere. Having some carbon dioxide in the atmosphere allows the temperature range on the surface of the earth to be suitable for life. But having higher amounts of carbon dioxide in the…
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NOAA released a description of some changes to the suite of products put out by the National Hurricane Center which will become effective in the upcoming Atlantic tropical season. The updates include storm surge watches and warnings and some enhancements in watches and warnings for storms that have not yet reached official storm status. You…
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If you haven’t had enough snow this winter to get your annual “snow fix” you might be interested in this story from Weather Underground. While I don’t often think of Japan as a snowy place (except for maybe in the far north), it turns out that because of cold Siberian air moving over the Pacific…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The State Climate Office of North Carolina has an interesting blog post this morning by Corey Davis on the importance of CoCoRaHS observations to documenting extreme events. And North Carolina has had quite a few this year! Remember, this is March Madness for CoCoRaHS, so if you are interested in becoming an observer, you can…
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One of my Facebook friends posted a link today to this 2010 OxFam study of the impacts of changing climate on agriculture in Ethopia. Upon skimming it, I was amazed at the detailed analyses the authors made of several different crops and how they are affected by currently observed trends in climate as well as…
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One of the unexpected side effects of this warm winter has been its impact on beef prices. With such nice weather, more people are grilling outdoors, and that means sales of steak and hamburger are booming. This is great news for cattle producers, since the increased demand has kept prices fairly high. You can read…