Innovative Farmers Look to Climate Forecasts for an Edge
Featured Article, May 2, 2012
Brian Kahn
From poor soil to scorching summer heat, farmers in the U.S. Southeast face some significant challenges. Two Southeast growers are looking to seasonal climate forecasts to give them an edge.
Do solar storms cause heat waves on Earth?
April 12, 2012 Michon Scott - National Snow and Ice Data Center
Although solar flares can bombard Earth’s outermost atmosphere with tremendous amounts of energy, most of that energy is reflected back into space by the Earth’s magnetic field or radiated back to space as heat by the thermosphere.
It’s official: March 2012 warmth topped the charts
April 9, 2012 Adapted from the NCDC March 2012 Climate Summary
Record and near-record breaking temperatures dominated the eastern two-thirds of the nation and contributed to the warmest March in the contiguous United States since records began in 1895. The average temperature was 8.6 degrees above the 20th century average for March. In the past 117 years, only one month (January 2006) has ever been so much warmer than its average temperature.
U.S. has fourth warmest winter on record; West & Southeast drier than average
March 13, 2012 Rebecca Lindsey
When NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center crunched the numbers for December, January and February—”meteorological” winter for 2011-2012—it stacked up as the fourth warmest of the past 117 winters. Virtually all of the West received less than its average precipitation.
Warming climate will add to habitat woes for Pacific NW salmon
February 23, 2012 Rebecca Lindsey
Modeling predicts that increasing greenhouse gas emissions will significantly increase thermal stress on Pacific Northwest salmon in coming decades, making the hard job of restoring endangered wild salmon even harder.
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Northeast Joins Drought, Spring 2012
Since the beginning of 2012, drought conditions have worsened along the eastern seaboard, adding to a dry picture for much of the United States.
Droughts & Downpours: Harvesting Rain on a Dryland Farm
Grower Kirk Brock talks about adapting to rainfall extremes on his dryland farm in Florida and how seasonal climate forecasts should help him improve his operation.
Expanding on the Almanac: Farmer’s Bet on Climate Forecast Pays Off
Alabama farmer Myron Johnson talks about how adding seasonal climate outlooks to his decisions about when to plant and harvest his cover crops helped produce a bumper cotton crop during the 2010 growing season.
A dry beginning for 2012 across much of U.S.
May 8th, 2012
Since the beginning of 2012, the contiguous United States has been experiencing drier than average conditions. This lack of precipitation is affecting water availability for agriculture and municipal use, as well as increasing concerns about soil quality and wildfires.
