The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows only slight changes in most of the region from last week’s map. The biggest change was in Alabama, where recent rains have eliminated the small area of drought and substantially reduced the area of abnormally dry (D0) conditions. Other states had small changes…
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The Garden Professors blog has two interesting and related posts describing how cold-hardy plants can survive temperatures well below freezing. If you are a gardener or farmer, you might be interested in reading about this. The two posts are listed below: Part 1: The mechanics of how plants survive cold…
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Here is a look at 20 historical droughts in the United States going back several centuries. The list is more focused on the western part of the country, but that is where the longest and most intense droughts were over long time periods. You might be interested in seeing some…
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The last few years have brought many tropical storms and hurricanes to the Southeast. This week marks the 5-year anniversary of Hurricane Matthew, which dropped heavy rains on the East Coast, especially eastern North and South Carolina. The damage to agriculture, infrastructure, and housing from the wind and rain was…
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This week marks the start of astronomical fall (remember, climatological fall started September 1). A strong cold front is expected to move through our region midweek, marking the end of summer and the beginning of the fall season. Rainy conditions early in the week (not continuous, but showery before the…
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While we here in the Southeast have been the beneficiaries of the current atmospheric wave pattern and its cooler temperatures, our friends in the western US have had the bad end of the stick. Not only are they seeing an extended and extreme drought, but they have also been experiencing…
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There have been a lot of stories about heat and drought across the world over the last couple of weeks. Here are some of the ones that I thought were the most interesting. The Guardian: In California’s interior, there’s no escape from the desperate heat: ‘Why are we even here?’…
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