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The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that abnormally dry conditions have expanded in most of the region but especially the western part, including most of Alabama and Georgia and parts of the Carolinas and Florida. This is due to the completely lack of rainfall under continuing high pressure after the remains of Ian moved…
Posted in: Drought -
In the last day or two, Tropical Storm Karl formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Some of the clouds today in southern Florida are streamers of moisture from Karl, but the storm itself is expected to turn south into Mexico and won’t affect us here in the Southeast. A new wave has also emerged…
Posted in: Tropical weather -
While Hurricane Ian had devastating impacts along the southwest coast of Florida, another big impact that got less attention was the tremendous rainfall that occurred inland as Ian crossed the Florida peninsula. Most of the people that live in those areas do not have flood insurance, and only a small percentage of their losses will…
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I am attending the EDEN (Extension Disaster Education Network) annual meeting up in Grand Rapids, MI, this week (my hometown!). I have been enjoying all of the colors of the trees, especially the sugar maples that are fiery red/orange at peak color. Here is a story from EarthSky explaining why the leaves change color. In…
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The North Carolina State Climatology Office released their September climate summary today, after a wet end to the month from Hurricane Ian’s remains. They also provide a look at the fall foliage season that is underway. You can read it at https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2022/10/september-felt-like-summer-to-start-then-fall-at-the-finish/.
Posted in: Climate summaries -
In spite of the dry conditions that we have seen in parts of the Southeast over the last month, some blueberry producers are noticing problems with root rot in their fields. Dr. Jonathan Oliver, blueberry specialist at UGA, discusses how fungal diseases like root rot occur and how excess irrigation may be the cause of…
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Phil Brannen, one of the UGA fruit specialists, wrote a post to peach farmers in Georgia as we prepared to experience Hurricane Ian last week discussing what kinds of damage to expect following the storm. While the storm bypassed Georgia this time, other growers in surrounding states that did get hit might find the information…
Posted in: Fruit