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You may not know it, but Mars Chocolate, the maker of candy brands like M&M, Snickers, and Dove, employs a small team of meteorologists who are dedicated to analyzing the impacts of the weather on the chocolate business. Many other commodity-based companies as well as financial firms do the same thing to keep abreast of weather and…
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A small area of D4 exceptional drought was introduced to Georgia in this week’s Drought Monitor in the far northwest part of the state. This is the first time that anywhere in Georgia has seen exceptional drought since February 5, 2013 (although that was in central Georgia). Severe drought expanded in Alabama, including a region…
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Did you know that when you fly, if you use the plane’s WiFi you have access to more current and detailed weather information than the pilots who are flying your aircraft do? Not having the best weather information has led to planes flying directly through thunderstorms and even hail shafts, causing damage to planes and…
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AgWeb reported this week that the costs of orange juice and coffee are both climbing due to extreme weather in Brazil. Drought conditions are driving up the costs of coffee beans in the coffee production areas while heavy rains in the citrus belt are hampering production of orange juice. Even the cost of sugar is…
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This morning at 11 am the National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Matthew, which formed from Investigation 97L. The NHC has been watching this investigation cross the Atlantic for several days but it has finally developed the closed circulation that allows it to be designated as a tropical storm. Currently Matthew is…
Posted in: Tropical weather -
As I’ve posted in previous entries, parts of the Southeast have been suffering from a shortage of hay as drought stopped the growth of pasture and forage plants, especially in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Armyworms have taken advantage of the weakened plants and have attacked in larger than usual numbers, further reducing the amount…
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A new study in Nature magazine describes a new very-long-term temperature record assembled by a scientist at Stanford University from 61 different proxy climate records. Proxy records are climate records based on things like tree rings, ocean sediments and ice cores which change depending on climate factors like temperature. The new record shows temperatures for…