Climate and Ag in the news
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This is the time of year when predictions of how active the Atlantic tropical season is likely to be start popping up in the news. Here is a story from Growing Produce that describes the probabilities of different coasts being hit as well as what years are considered the best analogs to this coming season.…
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I’ve often heard that diesel tractors and other farming equipment are unlikely to ever be replaced by electric vehicles when I attend farmers’ gatherings. This appears to be based on beliefs about current battery efficiency and the huge amounts of power needed to run some of this equipment. But a lot of farming is done…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
In spite of the rising sea level along the coasts, people are moving there in droves. You might wonder why they are doing so, since the risks of damage from high tides and storms now is creeping up even faster than the ocean is. This article from Yale Climate Connections discusses why coastal development is…
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This past week, hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University released their preliminary forecast for the number of tropical storms and hurricanes expected to form in the Atlantic basin this season. They predict a total of 13 tropical storms will form, of which six will become hurricanes. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its sustained…
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Yesterday I posted a story about how quickly the next El Nino seems to be coming on. It looks from computer predictions that it is likely to be a moderate to strong one, so its impacts are more predictable than in a weak El Nino. Still, every one is unique and the impacts across the…
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A recent study published in the Journal of Climate indicates that sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico are rising much faster in recent years than they have over the longer period. This has important implications for coastal communities because a more quickly rising sea level means more potential damage from hurricanes, more salt intrusion…
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While the focus of this blog is on climate and agriculture, a good understanding of agriculture also requires knowledge of the soil that you are growing your crops in. I was intrigued to hear about this website that provides a way to do interactive mapping of a number of soil properties across the country at…