Drought
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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 -
The latest Drought Monitor is out, and it is not good news for the Southeast. Extreme drought has been reintroduced to Georgia for the first time since February 2013. A small area of northeast Alabama is also in extreme drought. The good news is that rainier weather returned to parts of the Southeast this week;…
Posted in: Drought -
With almost half the year gone, it is a good time to look ahead to what is likely to happen the rest of this year and in 2017 based on the current climate pattern. While this outlook is specific to Georgia, most of the information is generally applicable to the entire Southeast. This year began…
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Dairy Herd Management has one of the best discussions I have seen about the end of the current El Niño and what is likely to happen with the coming La Niña. It’s written in a general way, not geared to livestock, so crop producers and foresters should read it too. Here’s the link. Unlike El…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news, Climate science, Crops, Drought, El Nino and La Nina, Livestock