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As expected, drought expanded slightly across the Southeast this week in response to hot temperatures and little rain. The percent of the Southwest covered by severe drought expanded from 1.6 to 2.3 percent, all in southern Georgia. Rainfall amounts for the next week should be closer to normal, although the heaviest amounts will occur…
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AgWeb recently published a story from NDSU Extension beef specialist Kris Ringwall on a couple of sources of information cattle producers can use to monitor drought and moisture conditions across the country. Kris points out that managing cattle is always a matter of flexibility as wet and dry spells come and go, but using graphics…
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Atlantic magazine had an interesting entry in their CityLab blog on temperature extremes in the US this week. The article pointed out that in most year, extremes of cold or warm dominate the country as a whole. However, this year there have been a nearly equal number of record hot and cold temperatures due…
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Weather Underground published a news story on September 1 showing that August 2014 had the lowest number of tornadoes for any August since 1963. This year only 27 tornadoes were confirmed across the US compared to an average of 81. In 1963 only 26 tornadoes were reported. However, small and weak tornadoes were reported much…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
This week the Southeast Regional Extension Climate Academy (SRECA) is meeting in Athens GA to talk about climate change and its impacts on the Southeast. Over 100 people, representing 11 different states, are gathered to discuss the science of changing climate (both natural and man-made changes) and how those changes affect crops, livestock, forests, and…
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While carbon dioxide emissions, especially from transportation and power production, produce most of the greenhouse emissions on Earth, emission of methane from livestock production and land use changes have been targeted by those interested in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions because methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Livestock produce methane naturally…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Growing Georgia published an article today which discusses the adverse impacts of heat on dairy cattle. In particular, the article points out that heat-stressed cows produce less milk and also suffer reduced fertility. Some steps that farmers can take to keep their cows happy include providing adequate water, sprinkling to improve cooling, ventilating and providing…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news