Drought
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Do you know what a “flash” drought is? I always thought it was a rapidly developing severe drought that primarily affected agriculture. I was surprised to learn that there are actually two types of flash drought, as explained by John Feldt, the retired Hydrologist in Charge of the NWS Southeast River Forecast Center. John now…
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The University of Georgia’s Center for Urban Agriculture has published a helpful article on managing turfgrass in times of drought. You can read it at https://ugaurbanag.com/__trashed-2/. The article discusses how to recognize the signs of drought stress and things you can do to maintain the appearance of the grass while minimizing growth until more favorable conditions…
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Clint Thompson of the University of Georgia posted a story this week about the problems the dry conditions are causing for Georgia dryland peanut farmers. He quotes Scott Monford, UGA peanut agronomist as saying that dryland peanut farmers should hold off on doing any chemical treatments until after it rains to see if it is…
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Southeast Farm Press posted an important article today from Alabama Extension about the impacts of drought on nitrate levels in forages. According to the article, “nitrates can accumulate in forages when plants are stressed by low soil moisture, high temperatures or low humidity”. At high levels, these forages can poison the cattle that feed on…
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The latest Drought Monitor shows a slight increase in the area covered by extreme drought in Georgia as well as the development of moderate drought in central Georgia just south of Macon. In other areas of the Southeast, dry conditions remained constant or decreased slightly. Near normal rainfall coupled with above-normal temperatures this week mean…
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We’re halfway through July and a look at the climate statistics so far shows the troubling situation for crops across most of the region. Temperatures across the Southeast have been well above normal so far this month, leading to excessive heat stress on livestock and significant evapotranspiration from crops. The precipitation across the Southeast has…
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Since my last post on the Drought Monitor depiction of drought in our region at the end of June, the area of extreme drought in the Southeast has expanded from 0.5% to 2.5% of the total area of the region. Both below-average rainfall and well above-average temperatures contributed to the expansion of the worst drought…
Posted in: Drought