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Now that almost everyone (my husband excluded) has a smartphone in their pocket or purse, many of us use weather apps to get daily forecasts as well as severe weather notices. But how good are they really? My friend Don Paul in Buffalo, NY, has a new blog post on how well or poorly they…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
If you have ever wondered about who makes the weekly Drought Monitor map and how it started, you may be interested in reading this story below on the history of the DM. Here is the first drought map put out by the DM in January 2000 and today’s map. ——————————————————————————————————————- The process of creating…
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It is no surprise to anyone who needs rain that drought is expanding across the Southeast, and the latest Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows that expansion in a big way. For the region as a whole, almost 39 percent is now classified as moderate drought (D1) or worse. Virginia jumped from 5 to 53…
Posted in: Drought -
After last year’s devastating impacts of Hurricane Michael on the Georgia cotton crop, extension specialists and producers are trying to find ways to avoid a repeat of that huge loss by considering how to plant and manage the crops. The Southeast Farm Press posted a couple of articles recently describing some of the recommendations that…
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If I asked you to list some greenhouse gases, you would probably start by listing carbon dioxide and then perhaps methane. But for agriculture, nitrous oxide is arguably more important, because many sources of nitrous oxide are from farming, for example from microbes in fertilized soil or animal manure. And nitrous oxide has 300 times…
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Do you know of someone who is deaf or hard of hearing? It can be difficult to get severe weather information if you cannot listen to a NOAA weather radio or hear a siren. The National Weather Service has a web page devoted to communicating severe weather information to those who have trouble hearing audio…
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The heat and droughts that have occurred in Europe in the past few years has put stress on the forests of Europe. One of the most beautiful and managed forests is at the gardens at Versailles, the French palace just outside Paris. The foresters who take care of these trees are slowly changing the make-up…