Climate and Ag in the news
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Because this winter has been so warm, in spite of a strong cold outbreak in late December, fruit crops are far ahead of normal growth patterns. This winter warming is expected to continue in the future, and so fruit farmers are considering how it might affect the future of their orchards. Here is a recent…
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According to a recent article by Seth Borenstein of Associated Press, a recent study of hurricane frequency by Princeton scientists shows that the chances of two hurricanes hitting a single location in a short period of time has increased from once every few decades to once every two or three years. This would have big…
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You’ve probably all noticed how early spring is this year. In some cases, the National Phenology Network states that first leaf is as much as 4 weeks early in some places. According to the UGA Pecan Blog by Lenny Wells, early varieties of pecans are now starting to show budbreak due to the consistently warm…
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Here is an interesting column about changes to hurricanes over time as the climate gets warmer. The columnist notes that most hurricane names are outdated and that the definitions of hurricanes and tropical storms that are linked to wind speeds don’t mean much when the biggest damage from many storms is due to water, not…
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One question I often get asked when I give talks about the changing climate is whether ENSO, the tropical swing in temperatures between El Nino and La Nina, is affected by the warming climate. It turns out not to be a simple question because ENSO depends not only on sea surface temperatures but also the…
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An ongoing study funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is being conducted by the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the University of Florida and the University of Georgia is developing methods for identifying and quantifying the effect of flash drought with each university focusing on different strategies. Flash drought is often not captured by…
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Last summer, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole crossed the Florida peninsula. Both brought heavy rain to parts of the region after previous inundation from Hurricane Irma in 2017. Now, residents are trying to decide whether or not to move out of the area or take their chances that another storm will not flood them out again.…