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The very heavy rain that California has experienced this year has provided many challenges for agricultural producers this year. Many orchards have been flooded, leading to suffocation of the tree roots due to lack of air in the soil, and farmers have not been able to do any field work for weeks due to the…
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The latest 7-day QPF map shows a continuation of the pattern that we have seen quite often during the winter, with the heaviest rain falling in northern AL and GA and the Southern Appalachians and stretching off to the northeast and drier conditions in Florida and southern AL and GA. Once the front that is…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The preliminary climate summary maps for March 2023 show that the entire region was warmer than normal, although not as far above normal as February. And this was in spite of two separate periods of frost and low temperatures in the middle of the month. Most of the region was also drier than normal, although…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
As the climate changes, farmers can become more resilient by adding new crops to their portfolio of choices. One I read about today is elderberry. Another is pongamia, a hardy tree that grows in Florida’s subtropical climate and serves as a source of oils, a soybean-like protein source, or a fertilizer feedstock, according to the…
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Drought increased significantly in Florida this week with the introduction of extreme (D3) in the peninsula, which was largely skipped by rain this week. Moderate (D1) drought also expanded in eastern Virginia this week. North Carolina saw increases in abnormally dry conditions. Other states saw only minor changes in drought status this week. Puerto Rico…
Posted in: Drought -
Did you know that the Southeast is the region that experiences the most weather-related major power outages? In the period from 2000 to 2021, the Southeast experienced 474 major power outages. Many of them were due to hurricanes or other severe weather, although winter weather also contributed to some outages. Texas was the state with…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
There have been several articles in the news recently about the impacts of both heavy rain and continuing drought on large lakes in the Southwestern United States. In California, a series of atmospheric rivers has brought huge volumes of water to the region, drowning agricultural land and causing disputes between farmers about where the water…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news