Crops
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Growing Georgia posted an article from Clint Thompson of UGA about the impacts of the recent heat on watermelon farmers. The high temperatures and strong sunlight could cause sunburn on the nearly ripe melons, making them unattractive and less able to sell. Some farmers are using sprays to help protect the melons from sun scald,…
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Growing Georgia published an article last week noting that the yield of Vidalia onions this year was lower than normal due to wet conditions in April as well as temperatures as low as 15 degrees and high winds and hail which also damaged the onions. The hail caused enough damage that some farmers did not…
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A dome of high pressure is moving into the Southeast this weekend and should stay parked over the area for much of the week. The high pressure will suppress most thunderstorm activity and shunt rain off to the west of our region. Above normal temperatures and high humidities will make it feel occasionally like it is…
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With all the active weather this growing season, it’s no wonder there are a lot of stories about the impacts of the weather and climate conditions on crops. Here is a sampling of some of the stories I have seen lately. Heavy rains in the Midwest have caused problems for corn and soybean farmers. In…
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Salty soil can be caused by a number of problems, including drought and a lack of rainfall to flush salts out of the soil, salt water intrusion and rising sea levels near the coast, and irrigation from salty aquifers. Over time, the salts build up and make it difficult to grow many types of crops. …
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William Shatner of StarTrek fame has proposed moving water through new massive pipelines from the Pacific Northwest down to California to support the agriculture industry there. He even started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money to build those pipelines. But Cliff Mass, an atmospheric scientist from the University of Washington, has a different idea:…
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March through May 2015 was warmer than normal almost everywhere in the Southeast, while much of the region was also drier than normal. The exception was the eastern Carolinas, where TS Ana passed, and parts of Alabama and western Georgia. The Southeast Regional Climate Center Perspectives tool shows that for most of the region,…