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NOAA released their summary of climate conditions for January 2016 this morning. You can read the summary at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/national/201601, with a link to the full report coming out later this week. They noted that this is the lowest amount of drought in the contiguous US since 2010.
Posted in: Climate summaries -
I read an essay this weekend on a farmer and his wife in a tiny village in south India and how their lives and farming are affected by the rain there. It was a poetic description of how small farmers are intimately connected with the atmosphere and depend on it to provide the water they…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Commercial fishing is a major source of income near the coasts across the United States. The Southeast has proportionally more coastline than any other area of the US except for Alaska, and the economy in coastal areas depends heavily on fishing. Trends that reduce the catch of seafood will have a large impact on the…
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Growing Georgia had an article this week describing the expansion of olive plantations into Florida in recent years. I’ve written previous about the development of olive groves in Georgia in this blog. Now Florida farmers, frustrated with the devastation caused by citrus greening, are looking to this new crop to help their bottom line. You…
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The Packer reported this week that heavy rains and high winds damaged pepper and corn crops and delayed planting, which could lead to production shortages in the coming weeks. Many of the pepper plants were just about to flower when the severe weather knocked blossoms off the plants, destroying the value of the crop. Final…
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In honor of the Super Bowl festivities today, here are some statistics on the weather extremes of past Super Bowl events, compiled by William Schmitz of the Southeast Regional Climate Center. SUPER BOWL EXTREMES 17 of the past 50 Bowls have been played outdoors, leaving it up to Mother Nature to add the element of…
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Science magazine posted an interesting story online about wind damage to trees, In the article they claim that research has shown that trees generally all break at wind speeds of 94 mph or higher, although trees can lose branches or tip over at lower speeds, especially if the ground is wet and their root systems…