Climate and Ag in the news
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NOAA’s monthly report on the global climate was released today. It shows that for the globe as a whole, April 2015 was the 4th warmest on record since 1880. They also noted that the latest 12-month period (May 2014–April 2015) ties with the record set last month (April 2014–March 2015) as the warmest 12-month period…
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The Los Angeles Times published an article this week discussing the impact of the El Nino on California’s drought. Typically El Nino brings plentiful rain to the area. In the last big El Nino in 1997-98, it brought floods and a lot of destruction as well as 17 deaths. Now that NOAA has predicted that…
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As we’ve discussed in earlier posts, an El Nino is currently present in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This means that the surface water temperature there is above normal. One of the consequences of this is that more strong hurricanes form than usual, since the warm water acts as fuel for the storms. This year, the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The “mistral” is a local wind which affects southern France. It is driven by the circulation around high pressure. The flow forces air down from high elevations towards the coast. As the air sinks, it clears and dries up, helping to provide cloudless days and low humidity that are great for growing grapes in the region. VinePair has a short…
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One of my Facebook friends posted a link to a really neat web site which provides beautiful graphics for forecasts out to two weeks. While I think the forecast skill for anything beyond about 5 days is not very high, the graphics are still very interesting to look at. You can view wind, temperature, humidity,…
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NOAA emails a monthly newsletter with a variety of stories on topics related to drought, extreme weather, and other climate-related topics. The latest newsletter can be viewed here. Among the topics this month: an interactive climate game, a discussion of what “normal” means for the Great Lakes, and a new online course on hydrologic impacts…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
NASA reported today that the last remaining section of the Larson B ice shelf in Antarctica, which partially collapsed in 2002, appears to be weakening and could break up into hundreds of icebergs by the end of the decade (link). This ice shelf, which has lasted for at least the last 12,000 years, has been…