The Florida Climate Institute has put together an excellent list of FAQs on climate variability, climate change and their impacts on Florida. Many of these FAQs apply broadly across the Southeast, and address El Nino, hurricanes, changing sea level, and the vulnerability of infrastructure. You can find the list at https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/resources/faqs.
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The latest Drought Monitor has brought abnormally dry (D0) conditions back to Georgia for the first time since last December (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/). According to the discussion for the Southeast, 30-day moisture deficits and declining soil moisture and pasture conditions have led the authors to conclude that we may be in the…
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The Climate Prediction Center website shows that for the next two weeks, much of the eastern US is going to be much colder than usual, and the Southeast is likely to be wetter than normal. You can find these prediction maps at www.cpc.noaa.gov. The wet and cool conditions should help…
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Recent observations of the eastern Pacific Ocean show that the expected El Nino has not developed as predicted and that even though the ocean temperatures are showing warming, the atmosphere has not followed suit, leading to mediocre El Nino signals. This makes it more likely that if El Nino develops…
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Do things seem really dry where you are? How much should you water your lawn or irrigate your crops? There are a number of commercial products out there that can help you determine this, but one simple method that is available for free is the Lawn and Garden Moisture Index,…
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You may have seen some news reports mentioning that NOAA recently reinstated July 1936 as the hottest month on record for the US, and heard the subsequent uproar from political commentators. Here is a column from David Zierden, the Florida State Climatologist, discussing this topic: “NOAA Reinstates July 1936 as…
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The Packer noted this week that lemons could top $50 per box this year due to frost in Chile and the drought in California in this article posted here. Lemons are no longer grown commercially in Florida due to the severe frosts of the 1970’s, which wiped out many groves,…
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