Climate and Ag in the news
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Researchers at the University of Georgia have helped identify causes of heat-related deaths in high school athletics and have led to new ways to practice that are much safer for outdoor activities in hot, humid climates. This NPR article and audio story describes the changes to practices that have improved athletes’ health and led to…
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The North Carolina State Climate Office has a fascinating look at historical temperature records in their state in this week’s climate blog. In their post, they look for the warmest hour ever across North Carolina and discuss how they use historical climate records to determine that golden hour. They have the complications of an ocean…
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One of the secrets of the trend towards warmer temperatures over time is that a lot of the warming is not occurring during the day but at night. In Georgia, overnight low temperatures are rising at a rate that is double the increase in daytime high temperatures. This has special consequences for human and animal…
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Studies of past weather and climate events can be useful in terms of helping us to figure out current and future climate, because they give us a way to test climate models and assumptions about climate behavior. This story from Yale Climate Connections describes a volcanic eruption that occurred in Alaska in 43 BCE that…
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A few days ago I posted a story about the extreme drought in France and how it was affecting farmers there. There have been a number of stories in the press since then. One of the most interesting stories is about how this drought, estimated to be a 500-year-event, has caused streamflow to be so…
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A new study released this week shows that many toxic chemicals related to plastics have been found in rainwater and snow as far south as Antarctica. This chemicals are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment but stay around forever. These chemicals have non-stick or stain-repellent properties that make them…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
One of the ways that producers might be able to adapt to the changing climate is by producing new crop varieties that are more resistant to drought, since drought is expected to increase in the future as temperatures get warmer and evaporation and evapotranspiration increase. Plant breeders are looking for plants that have characteristics that…