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One of the ways that humans alter climate is by changing the land use of a particular region, leading to changes in the energy balance locally. Some climatologists believe that the Southeast has lagged other parts of the country in warming due to the change from widespread bare ground crops like cotton early in the…
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This year is leap year, which means you will probably be reading this on February 29. This date comes around every four years in general, although we did not have one in 2000. The need for a leap year is due to the timing of the earth’s orbit around the sun. Here are some resources…
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The Fruit Growers News reported this week that Alabama peach growers are concerned about the lack of chill hours this year. You can read the article at https://fruitgrowersnews.com/news/alabama-peach-growers-hope-for-cooler-weather/. Some of the problems with the lack of chill hours are a reduction in fruit set and a longer bloom period, which could mean that at harvest growers…
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The Great Falls Tribune reported this week on the results of a new study released by the Montana Farmers Union on how changing climate will affect ranching and farming in Montana in the coming years. You can read the article here or the full report here. The article says “The report projects a 20 percent drop in…
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A new web site which contains links to resources on climate and forestry from Extension is now available. The site is https://climateforestswoodlands.org/resources/. When I looked at it yesterday, the clickable map to get resources specific to the Southeast was not working properly, but you can find them directly at https://articles.extension.org/category/southeast.
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Even though climatologists know the general patterns for how El Niño affects climate around the world, each event is unique and the observed patterns don’t always match what we expect. The really warm December across the eastern US this year is an example of how different things can be from the “expected” climate. The latest…
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Recent rains in Death Valley has led to a profusion of wildflowers in what is called a rare “superbloom”. Many desert plants have evolved to survive without blooming for several years until heavy rains wet the desert enough for the plants to form flowers. The last time this happened was 2005. EarthSky posted some photos…