Browse Climate Stories - Page 5

Fueled by warmer-than-normal temperatures, summer thunderstorms blanketed the state this June, producing heavy rain and flooding in some areas while leaving other areas dry.

Longtime residents of Georgia may remember the devastating floods of Tropical Storm Alberto in July 1994. The rain was so intense that Georgia’s one-day rainfall record was set during that storm: 21.10 inches of rain was recorded in Americus, Georgia, over a 24-hour period ending on July 6, 1994, as the storm stalled over the state. Despite that incredible record and the resulting damage, the National Hurricane Center did not retire that storm’s name. “Alberto” is the first on the list of Atlantic tropical storm names for the 2018 season, which begins on June 1.

Going into the start of the growing season, a wetter, cooler-than-normal April helped to reduce drought conditions across the northern three-quarters of Georgia, but drought conditions remain in the southeastern corner of the state.

Georgia farmers should expect dry weather when they plant their crops this spring, but Pam Knox, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences agricultural climatologist, anticipates an active tropical storm season in the Atlantic Ocean this summer.

Georgia saw a cooler-than-normal start to the year, and most of the state posted average temperatures between 2.5 and 4 degrees below normal. With cool, dry air expected to dominate Georgia’s climate in coming weeks, there is a chance that drought could continue expanding across the state and may persist through the spring.

If this October’s temperatures didn’t have you craving pumpkin spice, you’re not alone. The entire state was about four degrees warmer than normal this year. While the dry, warm weather may have made it hard to celebrate the beginning of fall, it was great for Georgia agriculture, aiding in the harvest of cotton, peanuts and soybeans across the state.

University of Georgia natural resource economist Craig Landry will use his portion of a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how the economy and the environment are affected when humans and coastal regions commingle. The four-year project is a team effort with researchers from Colorado, North Carolina and Ohio.

As concerns grow over the ability of the Upper Floridan Aquifer to keep up with demands for water from residents, farms and forests, four universities are teaming up to look at the economic sustainability of agriculture and forestry in north Florida and south Georgia that rely on this water supply.

After a month of below-normal temperatures, Georgia’s summer temperatures returned in July. Most of the state, except for the southeastern counties, was warmer and drier than normal, but climatologists don’t believe a drought is likely to develop over the next three months.

June’s heavy rains meant that many Georgia farmers were able to cut back on irrigation, but the rain also contributed to fungal diseases in vegetable crops and hampered vegetable farmers’ harvests.