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This past week we celebrated Groundhog Day on February 2, when a chubby rodent is pulled out of his winter hibernation to “predict” whether there will be an early end to winter or six more weeks of cold. By most statistics, the groundhog does not do very well, with incorrect predictions 60-70 percent of the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
In the Southeast, we know that El Nino and La Nina greatly affect our climate conditions, especially in the winter months when farmers are preparing for the next growing season. One of the important questions about the changing climate is whether or not the frequency and intensity of El Nino and La Nina (collectively called…
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Once again, rain is expected to fall across a lot of the Southeast this weekend with the latest storm system moving across the region from west to east. On Saturday rain will fall mostly in the western sections of the Southeast, but the front will move to the east overnight, bringing rain to areas farther…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
Even though we are still in a strong El Nino, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center issued a La Nina watch today for the expected swing from our current ENSO phase through neutral to the opposite phase, La Nina, by mid-summer. The speed at which the atmosphere transitions from one phase to another will determine what kinds…
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I’ve been getting a few emails asking about the current warm weather and if it is likely to continue since growers are concerned about bud break if the warm weather continues. I put a thermograph of daily temperatures for Blairsville below to show how temperatures have changed over time. On the thermograph, the green band…
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The National Hurricane Center recently announced some changes to the way that they represent the forecast cone for approaching tropical storms and hurricanes. They will now provide more information for inland areas instead of just focusing on the coastal impacts. This experimental product will be provided in addition to the official forecast cone on the…
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The latest Drought Monitor map, released today, shows that the areal coverage and severity of drought across the region continues to decrease due to continuing recent rains. Drought in Puerto Rico also improved slightly due to heavier rainfall there. Since more rain is forecast in the next week, we can expect to see additional improvements…
Posted in: Drought