Drought

  • The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that rain in Florida and in eastern Georgia improved drought conditions there. However, the lack of rain in northern Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia caused some degradation of drought conditions there. On the latest map, over 50% of the region is covered by drought, and 83% is…

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  • The dry conditions that have grown across a lot of the Southeast in the past few weeks have put a lot of stress on many crops, but probably none more so than corn. As I have driven across Georgia in the past couple of weeks, I have seen a lot of dryland corn fields looking…

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  • Due to the hot weather and almost complete lack of rain other than a few scattered showers, much of the Southeast is now in drought or abnormally dry conditions other than southern Florida and a few other areas of Georgia and Alabama. This rapid decline of conditions has caused loss of some corn crops during…

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  • The final outlook for July 2024 shows that the Southeast is expected to experience a strong heat wave for July 2-8, contributing to a likely July temperature that is expected to be warmer than normal. You can read more about the heat wave at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/key_messages/LatestKeyMessage_1.png. Based on the warmer than normal temperatures coupled with precipitation…

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  • Some crops can take a lot of heat, but others like corn don’t like it when it gets too warm. This story from Wallaces Farmer describes how corn responds to very dry and hot conditions and how it impacts the final yield of the corn crop. I know that some dryland corn in the Southeast…

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  • While we’ve been dry here in the Southeast, other parts of the world are experiencing even worse heat waves and droughts. One of these places is India, where the heat has been rising to record-setting levels. This is resulting in a decline in the production of wheat, a staple crop there. You can read more…

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  • The combination of almost no rain and very warm temperatures has resulted in a big increase in abnormally dry conditions across the region. In a few areas, the drought status increased by two categories, which rarely happens. The only place that did not change or improved slightly was central Florida. Another week of dry and…

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