Climate and Ag in the news
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By now you’ve all noticed the holiday music on the radio, Christmas ads on TV, and colorful lights in your neighborhoods. That means it is time for the annual question, “What are our chances for a white Christmas this year?” Of course, Christmas Day is still almost two weeks away, beyond the skill of weather…
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The newest weather jargon that is showing up this week in the media is “Pineapple Express.” Even though there is a movie of this name from the past few years, the term has actually been around for a decade or more in meteorology. It refers to a phenomenon called an “atmospheric river”, which is a…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Several thousand years ago, Africa was considerably wetter than in recent years. This period, called the African Humid Period, lasted from roughly 14,000 to 5,000 years ago, was related to higher temperatures and more greenhouse gases, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek. Recent simulations of climate for that time period match the climate determined…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Mother Jones reprinted a story from Slate this week on the contribution of burning yak dung to climate change in the Himalayas. Traditionally, Tibetans have burned dried yak dung to keep their houses warm during the long harsh winter. However, the burning fuel creates a lot of indoor air pollution as well emits a lot…
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NOAA released their temperature and precipitation rankings for the month of November today. The rankings show that Georgia was the fourth coldest since records began in 1895. Alabama was the 2nd coldest, South Carolina the 5th coldest, and North Carolina the 9th coldest. Florida, by comparison was only the 19th coldest November on record. The…
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Yahoo Finance today posted a story which gives an excellent overview of the increase of sea ice in Antarctica, which skeptics of climate change often use as “proof” that the climate is not getting warmer. In the article, a NASA scientist explains that the relationship between sea ice and temperature is not so simple, because…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Medical XPress posted an article today discussing the terrible olive harvests that have affected the supply of European olive oil, causing prices to rise significantly. Here is a quote from their article: “Nowhere has the impact of freakish summer weather been felt more painfully than in Tuscany and Umbria, where the subtly aromatic, extra-virgin oils…