• The latest newsletter of the Southern Regional Extension Forestry group is now available.  It contains information on a variety of upcoming workshops, personnel changes, and publications that may be of interest to you about fire safety.  You can read it by clicking here.

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  • All of the Southeast was above normal in temperature in September, but the areas which were already dry were the hottest. According to the Southeast Climate Perspectives tool (https://www.sercc.com/perspectives?user=true), most stations reported temperatures in their top five all-time Septembers, and a number of those were the warmest ever, especially in the most drought-affected areas. Precipitation…

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  • The Los Angeles Times had an interesting article this week about how years of protracted drought have impacted farmers in Iran, leaving them worried that their way of life is not sustainable.  In Iran, “environmental mismanagement, water overuse, the pressures of population growth and a government more concerned with security and economic challenges have exacerbated…

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  • Warmer temperatures in coffee-growing regions are expected to reduce the area that is suitable for growing coffee, according to an article published at Inc.com here.  In addition to the decrease in cultivated area, pests and diseases are also expected to increase in a warmer climate. Grass food crops like wheat, sorghum, rice and corn are…

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  • The latest 7-day QPF shows that much of the driest area of the Southeast will experience no rain at all in the next week.  If this happens, expect drought conditions to expand in the region.  But there is quite a bit of uncertainty with the forecast this week because of Category 5 Hurricane Matthew in…

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  • Over the course of the last day, Hurricane Matthew has grown tremendously into a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 mph over the southeastern Caribbean Sea.  Very warm sea surface temperatures in the region are contributing to the rapid growth and will continue to affect it for the next few days.  While most of the computer…

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  • The Florida Climate Center has released a report which summarizes the development and impacts of Hurricane Hermine in Florida as it crossed across the Southeast a few weeks ago.  You can find it at https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/images/docs/Hurricane_Hermine_Fla_summary.pdf.

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