Climate and Ag in the news
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In the past, television meteorologists were often hesitant to discuss the changing climate. In some cases, they were prohibited by the management of their stations, who did not want to lose any viewers. In other cases, the meteorologists were themselves skeptical of climate change projections. As the science has become more clear, more broadcast mets…
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Inside Climate News published a story about state weather mesonets in February, but I just ran across it this week. Mesonets like the one we have at the University of Georgia provide valuable climate information to farmers and extension agents documenting drought, water stress, freezes, and growing degree days, all of which help farmers monitor…
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Droughts come and go as a natural part of climate. Some species of plants and animals are adapted to drought and need it as part of their life cycle. However, prolonged drought can cause devastation to the areas that are affected by it, and the people that live there can suffer significant hardship due to…
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The National Weather Service Office in Peachtree City, GA, has posted storm survey results for the severe weather outbreak of April 5 and 6. I post this because the storm survey for the Dooly County EF-2 shows a wind maximum right at the location of the UGA Byromville weather station, which measured a wind gust…
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According to Clint Thompson in Specialty Crop Industry, recent cool and windy weather has slowed the development of young watermelon plants and caused some damage from sandblasting and plants twisted by the winds from recent storms. The farmers are looking forward to the nice warm and dry weather we are expecting in the next week…
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How does dust affect climate across the world? While we don’t think about it too often here in the Southeast, it is a big issue in other parts of the country and the world. Dust can affect the transmission of sunlight to the surface, coat the surfaces of glaciers (which affects how they melt), and…
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I ran across a very interesting (new to me) blog this week on soil with an article on soil moisture and its importance to agriculture. The University of Georgia weather network cooperates with the group described in the article; that group collects soil moisture from agricultural weather networks across the US because it is critical…