Climate and Ag in the news
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You know if you’ve been reading this blog that we missed out on a bunch of rain this week. The lucky winner instead was Louisiana, which had estimated rain totals as much as 30 inches so far, and it is still raining. Here are a couple of stories about the flooding. Steve Hilberg wrote about…
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I’ve seen several stories this week about conditions of some crops across the Southeast and how they relate to the weather. The Packer posted a story about the early start to the North Carolina sweet potato crop harvest. The story notes that yields are expected to be the best they’ve experienced in years due to…
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NOAA released their updated Atlantic hurricane season forecast for 2016 yesterday. NOAA calls for a higher likelihood of a near-normal or above-normal season, and decreases the chance of a below-normal season to only 15 percent, from the initial outlook issued in May. You can read it at https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/atlantic-hurricane-season-still-expected-to-be-strongest-since-2012.
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NASA’s Earth Observatory noted recently that this summer has been plagued by oppressive heat at several global locations. Temperatures in Siberia have been so warm that a frozen reindeer carcass infected with anthrax defrosted from the permafrost that had encased it and caused an outbreak that killed one child and over 2300 reindeer. Other areas…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Today marks the 43rd day in a row of high temperatures in Athens GA that were at or above 90 F. This ties us with the all-time record set in 2011, based on records going back to about 1903 combined from the city and airport data. Will we break the record tomorrow? It will be…
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A recently-released study of sea level rise measured by satellite altimetry shows a troubling hint of an accelerating upward trend in the already rising sea levels which may mean that coastal areas could be swamped sooner and more frequently than was previously predicted. You can read the original paper in Nature‘s Scientific Reports at https://www.nature.com/articles/srep31245. The…
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HorseTalk posted a story this week about efforts underway to help horse owners in New Zealand adapt to changes in climate. According to the story, “Changes in climate can bring the increased risk of diseases on riding and training, land management challenges from increased drought and floods, and a further limited food supply, so preparing…