Drought
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A recent study by researchers at Kansas State University looked at wheat yields in areas across the world to see how temperatures affected the yields of the popular crop. For the study, researchers systematically tested 30 wheat crop models against field experiments from around the world that were conducted in areas where the average temperature…
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A new NASA study this week shows the potential impacts of the warming climate on the occurrence of “megadroughts”, which are multi-year extreme droughts that have historically affected areas like California and the central part of the US. (Tree ring analysis has shown that the Southeast has also experienced megadroughts in the last 500 years.)…
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The Christian Science Monitor published a story earlier this month that describes the efforts of some scientists to improve drought resistance in plants by changing their ability to regulate water use. The hope is that by changing the way plants respond to moisture stress, they may be able to alter their behavior when water is limited…
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The drought situation in California continues to be a concern to farmers across the US because of its impacts on fruit and vegetable markets as well as dairy. In spite of hopes for a recovery this year due to El Nino and heavier than normal rainfall in December, since then rainfall in California has been…
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Slate magazine’s website had an ominous article today about the drought in California, which has gotten even worse in recent weeks after a wet start to the winter. Last year California’s temperature was more than 2 degrees higher than the previous record due in part to the drought, and this month some parts of the…
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Two new reports on the Midwestern drought of 2012 and the continuing drought conditions in California are now available online. The report on the 2012 drought in the central US and how it evolved from the floods of 2011 was published by the National Drought Monitor today. A description of the conclusions and links to…
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NOAA released their annual summary report for 2014 this morning. You can read the report at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/national/2014/12. The report shows that this is the 18th year in a row that the US average temperature has exceeded the 20th century average, and the 34th warmest year for the contiguous US. In general, most of the Southeast…