Climate and Ag in the news
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According to a story today by the News&Observer, “North Carolina farmers face the task of disposing of 1.9 million chickens and turkeys drowned in Hurricane Matthew flood waters. Thirty-five farms in 15 counties lost poultry, said Brian Long, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. Most of those birds were chickens, but about 100,000 turkeys…
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Last month, NOAA declared that based on the most recent data, the chance of a La Niña developing was only about 40 percent, and they removed the La Niña watch that they had declared earlier this summer. One month later, and the La Niña watch has returned with a 70% chance of occurring. The change…
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Deke Arndt posted an article last week in NOAA’s “Beyond the Data” blog on how to answer questions about extremes in temperature using the NCEI website and database. You can read about it at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/back-basics-temperature-truisms. If you need this information for stations beyond the NCEI list, you can probably get them from your local state climatologist or…
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All of the flooding that is underway in North Carolina following the passage of Hurricane Matthew has caused tremendous problems for livestock producers. The Washington Post noted here that “At least tens of thousands of chickens, hogs and other livestock are feared dead in floodwaters that washed over factory farms and towns in eastern North Carolina…
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Haaretz reported this week that scientists in Israel have produced a heat-resistant variety of apricot that does well in hotter conditions. This is expected to do well in future warmer climates. You can read the article at https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/science/1.746880. One interesting twist to the story is described here: “Support for their work came from South Carolina, where…
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The Packer noted this week that Hurricane Matthew damaged crops in some parts of the Southeast while leaving others relatively untouched. Florida crops were not significantly affected by the storm winds, which were lower than expected due to the center of the storm remaining offshore. Georgia crops also escaped the worst damage, although six inches…
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Among the impacts that Hurricane Matthew had on the Southeast coast were some impacts that the surge had on historical sites in the area. There are a number of forts in the area, many of them along the coast or just inland along rivers that were also affected by rising storm surges. Here are a…