Brad Haire posted a story this week in the Southeast Farm Press on the 2014 pecan harvest. You can read the story at https://southeastfarmpress.com/orchard-crops/georgia-s-2014-pecans-smaller-nuts-bigger-price-growing-market The story highlights the impacts of the tough summer weather on the nuts, although it says the weather also helped. Low volumes were related to poor…
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The newest weather jargon that is showing up this week in the media is “Pineapple Express.” Even though there is a movie of this name from the past few years, the term has actually been around for a decade or more in meteorology. It refers to a phenomenon called an…
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The CoCoRaHS network (Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network) is a group of volunteer precipitation observers across the US (and a few in Canada) that take daily precipitation readings using a simple rain gauge and reporting online using a computer or smartphone app. I am a regional coordinator for…
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Dairy farmers in New Zealand are facing serious consequences of water shortages that can be traced to the developing El Nino. These water shortages have led to tighter restrictions on water use and have also reduced the availability of cheap energy from hydroelectric dams due to restrictions on how much…
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Several thousand years ago, Africa was considerably wetter than in recent years. This period, called the African Humid Period, lasted from roughly 14,000 to 5,000 years ago, was related to higher temperatures and more greenhouse gases, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek. Recent simulations of climate for that time…
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Mother Jones reprinted a story from Slate this week on the contribution of burning yak dung to climate change in the Himalayas. Traditionally, Tibetans have burned dried yak dung to keep their houses warm during the long harsh winter. However, the burning fuel creates a lot of indoor air pollution…
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The State Climate Office of North Carolina published a blog entry today describing some work their student interns have done to look at the impact of weather and climate on pumpkin production. They found differences in the plantings dates between eastern and western NC and impacts of growing degree days…
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