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All of the rain that we have gotten in the last week has resulted in significant improvement of drought conditions across large parts of the Southeast. Every state has seen reductions in drought, and more is likely this week with the next storm coming through on Friday. Even Alabama, which is still mostly covered by…
Posted in: Drought -
NOAA released their latest ENSO outlook today. El Nino is firmly entrenched in place and is likely to be near peak strength right now. It is expected to weaken gradually over the next few months and then swing towards the opposite La Nina phase by late summer. If we are in a La Nina then,…
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The wet spring in 2023 and the hot, dry conditions in many parts of the peanut-growing region last year caused yield reductions in many fields, even those that were irrigated, according to this story in Delta Farm Progress. The wet spring delayed planting, resulting in younger plants that were less able to withstand the effects…
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Earlier this week, NOAA released their climate summary for 2023. It shows that the United States had a record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023, including nine atmospheric river events in California, the wildfire in Maui, Hurricane Idalia, and droughts across the Mississippi Valley and other locations. You can read the NOAA News article at…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
I have heard a lot of stories about people and businesses that have been affected by flooding after this week’s heavy rain. The Washington Post published a story in late December about the move by a number of states to require sellers to disclose more than just the FEMA flood plain designation for their properties.…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
If you are interested in North Carolina, you may want to sign up for their annual webinar discussing the climate of 2023. You can register for the webinar at https://ncsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIrf-6grD0sGNfQsjud6ICxS-KJAdr5nfWk#/registration. You can also read their December climate summary at https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2024/01/winter-gets-a-warm-wet-start-in-december/. Eventually a summary of the Year in Review will also appear on their climate blog.
Posted in: Climate summaries -
Many areas of the Southeast received very heavy rain in the storm earlier this week. In Georgia, I have heard reports of up to 7 inches or even more in a few isolated locations. Since there is not much growing right now, that heavy rain has likely caused problems on some farm fields with erosion…