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The “Spring Predictability Barrier” is well known to climatologists as the difficulty we have in predicting whether an El Nino will occur in the coming months in springtime compared to other times of the year. This is due to the seasonality of El Nino, which is usually strongest around Christmas (hence the name “El Nino”,…
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Vox.com had a thoughtful article about possible changes in California agriculture over time under a warmer climate and how it might impact other areas of the country. In particular the Southeast was identified as a place where some agricultural production might move. However, there are differences between the climate of California and the Southeast which…
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The blog site for UGA Urban Agriculture posted a story last week about the establishment of the National Resources Conservation Service eighty years ago during the Dust Bowl. You might be interested in this story, which is at https://site.extension.uga.edu/urbanag/2015/04/2300/.
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
After many days of wet conditions, the forecast for the next week shows most of the Southeast with little to no rain. This is welcome news for farmers who have been struggling to get out into the fields to do planting and other field work. The only areas that are expected to get rain are…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
I’ve seen several interesting stories about changes in forests over time and how climate is impacted by those changes. Here are a few that I thought were particularly interesting. Nature posted a long news article back in 2014 that I just ran across about how deforestation of the tropical rainforests is changing the local climate…
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On Facebook last week a friend posted a picture of the Earth’s atmosphere, taken at sunrise from the International Space Station. In the photo, the atmosphere is shown as a thin blue line separating the sphere of the planet from the blackness of space. The image reminded me of how thin the atmosphere is compared…
Posted in: Climate science -
Climatologists around the country have been watching the development of El Nino over the last year. In 2014 we thought a strong El Nino might be starting, but the pattern never quite developed the “oomph” needed to cross the threshold into official El Nino territory. However, many of the climate impacts we saw in the…