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If you work outdoors in summer, you know that air quality can be a concern. High ozone levels near the surface (as opposed to the upper-level ozone which protects us from ultraviolet rays) are caused by interactions of sunlight and air pollution, particularly from emissions from automobiles but also to some extent from agriculture and…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Climate Central has a new graphing tool which shows how this summer compares to temperatures in previous summers. There are just a few cities in the Southeast but it is fun and interesting to see how temperatures varied across the US. You can access the tool at https://www.climatecentral.org/news/us-summer-temperatures-comparison-17942. (Note that I had trouble visualizing the…
Posted in: Tools for climate and agriculture -
If you’ve been following this blog, you have no doubt noticed that drought is the number one subject that comes up in blog postings. It is no wonder: farmers are more interested in drought than in any other topic of weather and climate, because it is so detrimental to their bottom line. And recent dry…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The blog from the State Climate Office of North Carolina posted a new story today about some summer research done on the relationship between total net primary productivity (TNPP) of pines and drought indices. The research explored statistical correlations between various drought indices like the Palmer Drought Severity Index and the Standardized Precipitation Index and…
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As expected, the latest Drought Monitor has expanded the area of severe drought in Georgia under the dry conditions we have had for the last week. The coverage of D2 drought expanded from 3% to over 8% and now covers a significant portion of southwest and south central Georgia. The latest map and statistics are…
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There have been a number of stories this week on climate impacts on agriculture. The earthquake in Napa Valley also had impacts on the current wine year, although fortunately the timing reduced the potential cost of this disaster. Here are a few of the stories: Guatemala’s government declared an emergency due to one of the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The recent dry conditions have produced a number of negative impacts on agriculture in the Southeast. Rome Ethredge noted in his Seminole Crop E-News blog that dryland peanuts have taken quite a hit with very spotty rains in some areas. He noted that decreased yields are likely in the driest fields. There have been increases…