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According to the USDA’s Water and Climate Update for April 6, “The number of tornadoes touching down across the U.S. are at a near record pace for 2017. The NWS records starting in 2005 report the number of tornadoes are the second highest as of April 5. 486 tornadoes have touched down thus far, with…
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A recent study published by University of Illinois scientists looked at how farmers plan their field work for different times of year and how their scheduling is likely to change under a warmer, more variable climate. While the study looked specifically at Illinois producers, it shows that thinking about how to manage your farm schedules…
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When someone says to me that the climate is always changing, I inwardly roll my eyes and agree with them that climate has definitely changed over time and is still changing due to natural variability like El Niño (short-term) and orbital variations that cause ice ages (long-term). Climatologists have been studying these changes for a…
Posted in: Climate science -
Ben Potter of AgWeb posted an interesting short story this week on how farmers can improve their operations by using weather sensors in their fields to make better management decisions. In the past, farmers have used available weather data from nearby official stations to help decide when to plant and harvest or if irrigation is…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
People that are skeptical about the warming effect of carbon dioxide often point to the fertilization effect of CO2 on plants, causing them to grow more rapidly. Of course, that is just one factor in the growth of plants–they also need water, nutrients and sunlight to grow. A New York Times article this week describes…
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After a lot of rain was dropped on parts of the Southeast last week with two active storm systems, this coming week should be almost dry for many parts of the region. The rainfall map shows only a few areas getting a little light rain starting in mid-week, but many areas can expect to be…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
NOAA’s latest climate summary for the United States was published yesterday. It shows that overall it was the second warmest year to date on record since 1895, following the very warm 2012. The warmest part of the country was the Southwest, where many areas observed record high temperatures, and the coldest part of the US…
Posted in: Climate summaries