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While conditions in the Southeast have been quite moderate compared to other parts of the United States, heat-related impacts are taking a toll in other parts of the globe. Here are a few stories in the past week. AgWeb reported that a heat wave in Europe is ruining the crops there. Many parts of Europe…
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NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center produces long-range forecasts for several time periods, including 6-10 days, 8-14 days, 3-4 weeks, and for one to three months at a time going out to as much as a year ahead. Most of these forecasts provide shading to indicate where the probabilities are tipped towards warmer or colder than normal…
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One month ago, dry conditions across Georgia were hampering the best efforts of producers to get their crops in and see them flourish. It seemed likely to me that we were headed into a drought, as often happens in the spring following the end of a La Nina. Then, in mid-May, the atmosphere threw a…
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After a cold March and April, the state of Georgia rebounded in May with well above-normal temperatures for almost all of the state. May started out very dry but in the second half of the month, rain fell almost every day at many locations, leading to precipitation totals well above normal. This was aided by…
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I read an interesting story this week in Business Alabama about Alabama irrigation. Did you know that only 10% of Alabama agriculture is irrigated compared to 50% in Georgia and 60% in Mississippi? I always wondered why, and this article explained it. It is a combination of deeper aquifers which require more costly wells to…
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The EcoWatch newsletter posted a story this week about the impacts of the exceptional drought in the Southwestern US on water supplies in the Colorado River basin. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the river, has not been at full pool since 1983, but in recent years has been much lower. When reservoir levels get…
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If you are ever asked about how climate is changing in the Southeast (and it is, although it is more subtle than some other parts of the US), then here is an excellent web site which provides links to several different resources. You can visit it at https://www.globalchange.gov/explore/southeast-caribbean. I do see that the current events…