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A number of news stories in recent weeks have shown the influence of the waning strong El Niño on climate around the world. Here is a sampling of stories on the agricultural impacts of droughts in some of these areas. News24 reported that drought in Zimbabwe has caused the deaths of at least 19,300 head…
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Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak which brought 12 strong tornadoes to the Southeastern United States on April 5-6, 1936. Approximately 454 people were killed in the storms, most by two tornadoes, which makes this the second deadliest outbreak in US history. Wikipedia also notes that severe flash floods in the…
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This is the time of year when many birds are moving north for the summer. The flocks show up beautifully on Doppler radar. Cliff Mass shows radar images of bird movement in the Pacific Northwest in his blog at https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/03/bird-migration-on-radar-what-weather.html. Smithsonian magazine also has an article describing how the birds are detected at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-doppler-radar-can-track-bird-migrations-180952834/?no-ist.
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A recent study by Brown University scientists suggests that impacts of climate change on agriculture might be worse than expected. You can read about the study at https://news.brown.edu/articles/2016/03/matogrosso. The scientists used satellite analysis of land use changes and studied cropping patterns in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. They showed that an increase in average temperature in Mato…
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A recent article in Nature Climate Change by UGA scientists Mathew Hauer and Deepak Mishra and former UGA scientist Jason Evans highlights the severe impacts that rising sea level is expected to have on coastal populations in the US (the abstract is here). The scientists show that based on current projections of sea level rise…
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I read an interesting essay this week from July 2015 in Cracked.com describing a first-person experience with an EF5 tornado, in this case the one that hit Moore OK in May 2013. The story really brings home the need to prepare for unexpected disasters and what you can do to prepare for your own bad…
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NOAA released their winter climate statistics yesterday. They showed that for the lower 48 states, this past December through February was the warmest since records began in 1895. The exceptionally warm December really boosted the temperatures this season. It was Alaska’s second warmest winter, with averages more than 10 degrees above normal. You can read more…