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This has been one of the quietest starts to the year with regard to severe weather. According to records from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, this year they have only issued four tornado warnings and no severe thunderstorm warnings at all. Typically by mid-March they have issued 52 watches. The number of tornadoes observed so far…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Today marks the first day of astronomical spring (remember, meteorological spring started on March 1). This is the vernal equinox, when the Northern Hemisphere starts to tilt towards the sun instead of away, and days become longer and the sun higher in the sky. You can read all about it at EarthSky here.
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The extended forecast for the next two weeks has an increased chance of cool and wet conditions according to the Climate Prediction Center. They also released their new forecasts for April and for April through June. Both the 1-month and 3-month forecasts show equal chances of below, above or near normal temperature but both the…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The National Hurricane Center announced this week that they are going to add prototype storm surge warnings to their suite of products for tropical storm and hurricane warnings. This will allow people in low-lying areas to more effectively prepared for possible inundation and make plans to evacuate. You can read more at https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/20150318_pa_2015seasonChanges.pdf.
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Clint Thompson of the University of Georgia released a report today on damage to early blueberry varieties in Georgia which was published in Growing Georgia here. Very cold temperatures contributed to damage in some areas that could total up to 50 percent of some varieties. Producers used frost protection in the form of overhead sprinklers to…
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NOAA has released their global climate summary for February 2015 and winter (December-February) 2014-2015 today (the summary has a link to the full report). The summary shows that February 2015 was the second warmest February on record for the globe as a whole, following February 1998, which was a strong El Nino year. The December…
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The Los Angeles Times ran an article today describing the impacts of groundwater pumping on agriculture in California’s Central Valley (link). High rates of groundwater use have caused ground levels to subside by as much as a foot a year, and have also lowered water tables, forcing farmers to pay high prices to pump water…