Drought
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National Public Radio had an intriguing story about a hay farm in Arizona that is owned by a Saudi dairy company and how it is affecting local groundwater levels. “That dairy company, named Almarai, bought the farm last year and has planted thousands of acres of groundwater-guzzling alfalfa to make that hay. Saudi Arabia can’t…
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This week’s Drought Monitor shows a small area of severe drought (D2) returning to the south coast of Alabama after continuing dry conditions there. Moderate drought also expanded across the state last week. Rainfall is expected to return to the area in the next seven days, which may help alleviate the dry conditions.
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While most people have been focused on the wet conditions in the Carolinas and Virginia which eliminated a lot of drought last week, other areas of the Southeast have been getting drier. Today the National Drought Monitor increased moderate drought in a small area of south-central Georgia and the western counties of Alabama due to…
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Dr. Jeff Masters’ blog in WeatherUnderground this week discusses what may be the most costly disaster on Earth this year, but one that has escaped notice in most of the United States. Here is what he has to say: “Earth’s most expensive weather-related disaster of 2015–and the most expensive disaster in Indonesia’s history–is underway in…
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After the tremendous flooding earlier this week, it probably does not come as a surprise to you that the Drought Monitor today has removed all categories of drought from most of the Carolinas and Virginia. It is rare for them to change by more than one category in a week, but the large area of…
Posted in: Drought -
The journal Nature posted a new article this week on the long-term consequences of drought on California agriculture and why things may have to change in the future in spite of short-term relief from El Niño. You can read the article at https://www.nature.com/news/california-agriculture-weathers-drought-at-a-cost-1.18457.
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The Southeast Farm Press reported earlier this week about the devastating impacts of the flash drought that is affecting South Carolina as well as parts of North Carolina and Georgia. Ironically, wet conditions last spring delayed planting of many crops and probably reduced the number of acres of corn planted. Then hot and dry conditions…