A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast

  • Extreme drought gone from Southeast

    Pam Knox

    The latest Drought Monitor released this morning shows that all extreme drought is now gone from the Southeast. Rains since last week’s map have helped alleviate drought across Florida and southern Georgia.  Note the comment from the Florida State Climatologist on the timing of the map: “This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor (shown in the first…

    Posted in:

  • World Oceans Day

    Pam Knox

    Today is World Oceans Day!  Since the oceans cover 3/4 of the earth’s surface, they are extremely important to providing moisture and controlling temperature in the atmosphere.  You can see some great pictures at EarthSky here.

    Posted in: ,

  • NOAA: May 2017 near average in temperature and 25th wettest for US as a whole

    Pam Knox

    NOAA released their May, spring and year to date climate assessments for the US today.  It shows that the average temperature for the lower 48 states as a whole was near the center of the pack of all Mays on record, while the precipitation received made it rank as the 25th wettest. You can read…

    Posted in:

  • Recent extreme weather around the world

    Pam Knox

    Extreme weather has hit several regions around the world in recent weeks. According to Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, “The last week of May 2017 and first week of June brought one the most extraordinary heatwaves in world history to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The mercury shot up to an astonishing 53.5°C (128.3°F)…

    Posted in:

  • D-Day forecasts were critical to success

    Pam Knox

    Today is the anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces in Europe landed at Normandy Beach and began the long trek to take back Europe in World War 2. The weather forecasts for that landing were critical to the success of the mission. You can read more about this at the following web sites. WRAL: Science…

    Posted in:

  • Georgia winemakers, hay makers pleased by recent rains

    Pam Knox

    In spite of continuing a continuing drought designation by Georgia’s EPD due to low water supplies in Lake Lanier, rain has returned to much of northeast Georgia.  Grape growers are very pleased at this year’s wetter conditions and say that their vines are looking great, according to the Gainesville Times here. Now they are hoping…

    Posted in: , , ,

  • “How hard did it rain on Mars?”

    Pam Knox

    Unless you’re Matt Damon, you’re unlikely to think about agriculture on Mars anytime soon, but it’s still interesting to speculate on what the weather might have been like there in the past. EarthSky posted a story this week about how geologists and other scientists are determining the past weather on Mars and the signs for…

    Posted in: ,