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Iowa State University has announced a new set of publications discussing the impacts of weather and climate on several specialty crops. The publications are listed collectively as “Climate and Weather: Specialty Crop Growers’ Views and Priorities to Manage Uncertainty in Production Systems.” While most these publications are aimed at folks from the Midwest, there is…
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Clint Thompson of UGA has written a story featuring Dr. Bob Kemerait on the negative impacts of our warm winter on crops in the Southeast. The warmer temperatures have allowed “volunteer” peanuts or “volunteer cotton plants to regrow, increasing nematode populations and allowing crop diseases to shelter in place over the winter months. Dr. Kemerait…
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So far this month, we have seen well above normal temperatures and dry conditions across most of the Southeast. Most stations are in their top ten warmest for the month so far, and since warm conditions are expected to continue for most of the next two weeks, it would not surprise me if the final…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
Drovers Newsletter posted a story today describing some of the continuing impacts of the Southeastern drought on cattle production. Fortunately, recent rains and cooler temperatures over the winter have improved the drought conditions significantly, but with warmer and drier conditions now occurring again, this could mean more problems for farmers down the road. You can…
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The Macon Telegraph ran a story earlier this week on the impacts of the unusually warm winter on chill hours for peaches. As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, the number of chill hours accumulated over this winter is only about half of the normal number of chill hours. Peaches need a…
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By the time you read this on Monday morning, the Oroville Dam in California, holding back the second biggest reservoir in the state, may have been washed out. As of Sunday night, there are flash flood warnings due to an imminent collapse of the auxiliary spillway for low-lying areas downstream of the dam. While the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
NOAA has a great discussion of a frigid outbreak of cold air that occurred in 1899, culminating in bitterly cold conditions on February 10. Here is how their discussion starts: “Over 115 years ago, a cold wave that would become known as the “Great Arctic Outbreak” took the United States by storm. People across the…
Posted in: History