Climate and Ag in the news
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The Fruit Growers News reported this week that Alabama peach growers are concerned about the lack of chill hours this year. You can read the article at https://fruitgrowersnews.com/news/alabama-peach-growers-hope-for-cooler-weather/. Some of the problems with the lack of chill hours are a reduction in fruit set and a longer bloom period, which could mean that at harvest growers…
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The Great Falls Tribune reported this week on the results of a new study released by the Montana Farmers Union on how changing climate will affect ranching and farming in Montana in the coming years. You can read the article here or the full report here. The article says “The report projects a 20 percent drop in…
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A new web site which contains links to resources on climate and forestry from Extension is now available. The site is https://climateforestswoodlands.org/resources/. When I looked at it yesterday, the clickable map to get resources specific to the Southeast was not working properly, but you can find them directly at https://articles.extension.org/category/southeast.
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Even though climatologists know the general patterns for how El Niño affects climate around the world, each event is unique and the observed patterns don’t always match what we expect. The really warm December across the eastern US this year is an example of how different things can be from the “expected” climate. The latest…
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Recent rains in Death Valley has led to a profusion of wildflowers in what is called a rare “superbloom”. Many desert plants have evolved to survive without blooming for several years until heavy rains wet the desert enough for the plants to form flowers. The last time this happened was 2005. EarthSky posted some photos…
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Rome Ethredge reported in his blog today that they are starting to think about planting corn in southwest Georgia in areas where the soil is not too wet. Generally corn can be planted when the 2 inch soil temperature is consistently at 55 F or higher with no cold spell expected. Soil temperatures of 60…
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On my Facebook feed from friends this morning was a story about an amazing map which shows every river in the lower 48 states. You can look at the map and read the story of how it was created at https://www.wired.com/2013/06/infographic-this-detailed-map-shows-every-river-in-the-united-states/. It’s not exactly a weather image but is very interesting to look at and captures…