As the climate continues to warm, plant and animals are adjusting.  A recent study conducted by NASA and a team of international university researchers examined a 30-year record of land surface and improved satellite sets for the area from 45 degrees N latitude to the North Pole.  They found that the growing season and vegetation has basically migrated 4 to 6 degrees north in latitude.  In other words the vegetation found in a spot today would have been more common about 300 miles south of that as recently as 1982.

CREDIT: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for Scientific Visualization Studio.

Of 10 million square miles covered by this study, about 40% has shown an increase in plant growth in the past 30 years.  This is represented by the green and blue areas on the map to the left.  Only 3 to 5% of the area has shown plant growth decrease.  This is shown by the brownish areas on the map.

Please see the full article at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/growth-shift.html

Posted under Ag Weather, AGW, Arctic climate, Climate Change

I’ve been harvesting apples from trees I planted for 6 or 7 years now, but I’ve never been quite as frustrated as this year.  Of course first we had the apple blossoms getting frosted this spring, then the drought, and then the hornets!  I actually had an average crop going, but things have gone downhill fast for me because of the plethora of hornets eating the apples on the tree.  I suspect the dry and warm summer must have something to do with this.  There just seems to be a lot more hornets than usual, and they seem really, really hungry.  Not only that…but they seem really angry too.  If I try to get within 15 feet of the tree that they are on, they start buzzing around me. 

Even when I set a pail of apple peels outside for a few minutes to take to the chickens, the hornets quickly pile on the pail.  It’s hard for me to even get it picked up.  We’ve been seeing a lot of really big nests being built as well on buildings in our area. 

I’m wondering if any of you have had extra trouble with the hornets around your yard this season?  Do you have any tricks on how to deal with them or get them off your apple trees for example?  I suppose I could try to smoke them out, but I hate to light any fires with as dry as everything is.  I have noticed they are less aggressive and less numerous early in the morning, cooler out, or raining.  Well, maybe I’ll just have to pick my apples in a downpour to avoid getting attacked!  Who says gardening is easy anyway.  Hopefully it won’t be as tough next year.

Posted under Ag Weather, Drought, Ecology, Gardening

I have been following the developing ethanol story for a few years now and it has certainly come back into focus with the drought and heat of 2012. In the beginning, about a decade ago, I was supportive of ethanol research and production in order to see if it made sense in the alternative energy picture. After a couple of years, it became clear to me, that ethanol (particularly grain/corn ethanol) was not worth it. Biodiesel from waste materials or algae make better sense, even if they are not perfect long term solutions.

So lately I have been discussing the increasing downsides of grain ethanol here in the U.S., which are many and growing bigger by the day (literally), but I know there are many steadfast supporters, including some friends and aquaintances who work in the industry, so here is an article discussing the ethanol debate from the economic perspective of the grain-growers and the ethanol producers. Several small ethanol producers have been forced to close down due to the high price of the feed stock. Corn growers are starting to battle animal and food producers over the ethanol mandate. One thing I cannot get my head around is how ethanol producers can go out of business when the government mandates the product. Even if the corn price goes up, the ethanol blenders still have to buy it? Right? I suppose there is still some competition between ethanol plants. Maybe the big operators produce enough to meet the mandate and the weakest players are now being weeded out.

It will only get worse in coming months and I predict the ethanol producers will lose out in the end if food prices continue to rise. If the ethanol mandate is taken away, most of them will shut down because there isn’t a large free market for their product (mainly booze, I guess, but I always figured distillers made their own). It is one of the inevitable side effects when the government tries to pick losers and winners in energy or almost any other aspect of life. Did you hear? Not only is the U.S. government NOT relaxing the ethanol mandate, they (already 16 trillion in debt) are going to start buying meat in order to help the market for livestock producers. To me, it seems they are just going to make a bad situation worse. Just like biofuel mandates (around the world) have had unintended consequences such as the destruction of a lot of forests,, buying up the meat on the market (I am worried) might lead to further disruptions in the market down the road. What ever happened to the America where people saved money for a rainy day and were resourceful enough to solve their own problems? I am not sure, but I blogged about such a time over 100 years ago.

In any case, I predict food will win out over fuel in the end – if it comes to that. It would be terrible if people end up starving because of the U.S. ethanol mandate. Some people have already been predicting unrest and riots over the rising food prices. I feel for the grain producers and the ethanol plant workers, but mother nature and rationality would seem to be against them. What do you think?

In a somewhat related matter (ethanol production takes a lot of water), the U.S. has been experiencing disruptions in electricity production due to the hot and dry weather. It makes one consider the fragility of “the grid”. The one massive energy grid of the U.S. is probably not the most robust system. It would probably be better if more regions were energy independent and if there were more off-grid businesses and domiciles. If the grid goes down for an extended period of time, we would be in a heap of trouble.

Wind energy has been making strides in recent years for off-grid and on-grid applications but growth might slow in coming years because the future of the wind energy credit is in doubt. I wouldn’t mind a slowing of wind mill projects because I am not a big fan. I would rather see more solar panels – on rooftops. 

What I find strange is that the wind credit is needed while oil is still near $100 a barrel. Many years ago, one of the arguments for wind (and other alternative energy credits) was that it was more expensive than oil, so people needed an incentive to adopt it. The price of wind power hasn’t changed much in the intervening time, but the price of oil has skyrocketed from $20 a barrel back in the late 1990s. Shouldn’t wind power be more attractive now? I have often thought the the true economic and scientific test of whether an alternative energy source is viable, is if it can power its own production (with excess to spare). That is, if a solar panel manufacturing plant can produce solar panels using only power from its own solar panels AND make a profit, then it is a viable technology. So far there is no real world test of this nature for wind and solar, as far as I am aware. At least solar power has more efficiency upside in the future. Grain ethanol fails the test and there is little hope for it to get much better.

Have a swell Friday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Ag Weather, Alternative Energy

I ran across some interesting survey results recently that are worthy of sharing with you.  The survey deals with drought, water and energy usage, and how it concerns Americans.  It was conducted in late July by the think tank, Civil Society Institute.  They are a non-profit, non-partisan group based in Massachusetts.

Below is a copy of a press release I received from them.   

SURVEY:   MOST AMERICANS WORRY ABOUT DROUGHT, WANT SHIFT TO CLEANER ENERGY TO AVOID WATER SHORTAGES, POLLUTION

Two Thirds of Americans Favor More Federal Action to Address Extreme Weather Woes, Concerns Higher in Drought-Hit States of AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, MO, NV, NM, SC and TX.

BOSTON, MA.///August 16, 2012//Water — and how to protect it in the face of worsening drought conditions — is now a hot topic across America. 

Faced with record-breaking 2012 summer heat, 81 percent of Americans are concerned about “increased drought” and other extreme weather conditions, according to a major new ORC International survey conducted for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI). In addition to the national poll data, more detailed results were presented for the drought-hit states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Texas.

Conducted July 26-30, 2012, the CSI survey found that concerns about drought go hand in hand with worries about water shortages and also how to avoid making them worse.   Three out of four Americans – including 61 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Independents — think that “with all the current concern about severe drought and the risk of water shortages, America needs to start focusing more on alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, that require less water.”  This view is shared consistently across nearly all drought-stricken states surveyed.

Other key findings include the following:

* Shortages of safe drinking water due to drought and “the diversion of water for energy production” is the No. 1 overall worry in the 10 drought-stricken states with 63 percent “very concerned,” reaching highs of 74 percent in Florida and 71 percent in Georgia.  Nationwide, nearly two thirds (64 percent) of Americans are “very concerned” about the prospect of “possible shortages of safe drinking water” due to drought and diversion for energy production.  This issue is topped nationally only by concerns about higher food prices (66 percent), and is trailed by higher gasoline prices (61 percent), higher utility bills (49 percent), and diminished recreational activities (24 percent).  

* Well over four out of five Americans (85 percent) – including 76 of Republicans, 91 percent of Democrats and 88 percent of Independents – say that the availability of ample clean water should be a top national priority for the U.S. In drought-hit states, the total rises to 86 percent in California and 90 percent in Georgia. 

* About two out of three Americans (65 percent) think “the national government needs to do more to address extreme weather impacts.”  In drought states, views on this issue are strongest in Nevada (69 percent) and Florida (76 percent).

* Americans want an energy/water “road map” for the U.S. Nearly nine out of 10 Americans (89 percent) – including 86 percent of Republicans, 93 percent of Democrats and 85 percent of Independents – believe that “U.S. energy planning and decision making must be made with full knowledge and understanding about the availability of water regionally and locally, and the impact this water use from specific energy choices has on their economies, including agricultural production.”  

Pam Solo, president, Civil Society Institute, said:   “We now understand all too well the harsh realities of the current drought and its relationship to changes in the climate from global warming.  America’s ‘all of the above’ non-solution for electricity generation is a dead-end path – one requiring vast amounts of water for coal-fired power plants, nuclear reactors and the fracking extraction of natural gas.  It didn’t have to be like this.   In 2005, the Congress mandated that the U.S. Department of Energy produce a water/energy roadmap.  Seven years later, we have neither a roadmap nor even a general understanding of what water resources we do have. We don’t know what the competition between energy, agriculture, industrial and residential uses will mean for food security and the dependability and costs of energy sources that are reliant on increasingly scarce water.  The sad truth is that we are flying blind today when we could have had the foundation for a national water/energy
plan in place years ago.”

Heather White, general counsel, Environmental Working Group, said:  “Across the political spectrum, Americans are united in their understanding that an ample supply of clean water is essential to our health and to our energy future.  This drought and the other extreme weather events we are experiencing provide a painful reminder of that reality. We must move to a clean energy future that doesn’t solely consider carbon emissions; it must also safeguard the quality of our drinking water and the overall environment. The vast majority of Americans know that the same business-as-usual and ‘all of the above’ approach to energy policy simply isn’t going to get us there. We must have a fundamental shift toward clean alternatives like wind and solar instead of doubling down on water-intensive and potentially dangerous energy sources like fracking and nuclear power.”

Pollster Graham Hueber, senior researcher, ORC International, said:    “The old expression is that everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.   That may not be the case when it comes to drought that poses a threat to the availability of clean water.   Driven by their concerns about drought, a strong majority of Americans responding to this survey were open to making choices – such as more wind and solar power – if doing so would avoid worsening the water shortages brought on by drought.   In looking across party lines, we see broadly bipartisan sharing of both concerns about drought and support for more ‘water friendly’ energy alternatives.”

Seth Sheldon, senior water and energy analyst, Civil Society Institute, said:   “The water/energy nexus in a period of drought and water shortages is something we can ill afford to ignore.  On average, nearly 50 percent of the water withdrawn in the US is used by thermoelectric power plants for cooling and the generation of steam for power.    Facilities that use “once-through” cooling withdraw huge quantities of water from lakes and rivers and return the water at a much higher temperature to the detriment of downstream ecosystems. Facilities that use ‘recirculating’ cooling withdraw less water, but that water is evaporated away and lost to the atmosphere. Both types of power plants are critically dependent on water and prone to pollution of the same.”

OTHER KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

* Seven out of 10 Americans – including 63 percent of Republicans, 76 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents – support a “precautionary principle” approach to addressing water and energy issues.  The 70 percent endorsed the following statement:  “The precautionary principle would advocate a conservative approach to the use of technologies that may put public health at risk and create irreversible environmental harm.  If there is not enough scientific evidence showing that it is safe, precaution should guide decisions in those cases.” 

* Two thirds of Americans – including 50 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of Democrats, and 68 percent of Independents – now think that climate change is “real” or “appears to be happening”.  Only 6 percent of Americans now say that climate change is “definitely not happening”.   Residents in nine out of 10 drought states – ranging from a low of 63 percent in Texas to highs of 76 percent in Florida and 80 percent in California – are as or more likely than the rest of America to think that climate change is real.

* Of those Americans who say that they think climate change is real or appears to be happening, 73 percent – including 65 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Independents — have been influenced in their views by “recent extreme weather events in the United States — including drought, wildfires, high-wind storms, and other developments.”  In drought-stricken states, two-thirds of those who recognize the existence of climate change have been influenced by recent weather events, reaching highs of 80 percent of those surveyed in Texas and Florida.  

* About two in five Americans (39 percent) have “personally experienced the impact of drought in the last year.”  In drought-hit states, this jumps to highs of 74 percent in Missouri, 69 percent in Texas, 63 percent in New Mexico, and 62 percent in Colorado.

* More than three quarters of Americans (77 percent) — including 62 percent of Republicans, 88 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Independents – are concerned about the drilling process known as fracking.  Nearly three out of five Americans (58 percent) are aware of “fracking” today, compared to 27 percent who said they know nothing about it.”

* About four out of five Americans (79 percent) — including 77 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Independents — support “tighter public disclosure requirements as well as studies of the health and environmental consequences of the chemicals used in natural gas drilling.”

For full survey findings, go to http://www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org on the Web.

METHODOLOGY

The ORC International report conducted a nationally representative telephone survey among a sample of 1,017 adults.  Oversamples of at least 150 adults were also conducted in each of the following states:  Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas.  The survey was conducted during the period of July 26-30, 2012.  The margin of error for the national survey is plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.  The margin of error for each of the state surveys is plus or minus eight percentage points.

ABOUT CSI

Based in Newton, MA, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (http://www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org) is a think tank that serves as a catalyst for change by creating problem-solving interactions among people, and between communities, government and business that can help to improve society. Since 2003, CSI has conducted more than 25 major national and state-level surveys and reports on energy and auto issues, including vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, consumer demand for hybrids/other highly-fuel efficient vehicles, global warming and renewable energy. In addition to being a co-convener of TheCLEAN.org (http://www.TheClean.org), the Civil Society Institute also is the parent organization of the Hybrid Owners of America (http://www.HybridOwnersofAmerica.org).

EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. http://www.ewg.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at http://www.civilsociety.org as of 5 p.m. EDT on August 16, 2012. 

Posted under Ag Weather, Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Drought, Pollution

A recent study published in the journal Nature, shows a strong link between El Nino and increased air pollution in Indonesia to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.  This is because during an El Nino, rainfall is typically lighter than normal in that part of the world.  Farmers in the region thus increase the use of fire to burn and clear the land for agriculture in El Nino years.  The additional pollution is believed to be responsible for as many as 15,000 fatalities in El Nino years.

The study which was conducted jointly by Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies used emissions estimates taken from satellite measurements from 1997 to 2006.  They fed the data into atmospheric chemistry models to plot out air pollution for the region.  

For example during the strong El Nino of 1997, their analysis showed that there was a jump in the amount of fine particles in the atmosphere exceeding World Health Organization standards by 300% for at least 200 days of the year.  Ozone levels, a component of smog,  also increased substantially.  In comparison, during the La Nina episode in 2000, the level of carbon particulates was 98% lower than in 1997.  La Nina provides enhanced rainfall for Indonesia and southeast Asia.

The region is home to over half a billion people.  Furthermore the researchers found that even though most of the burning occurs in rural areas such as Sumatra and Bornea, the impacts are great even well away in large cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.  Carbon particulates are of most concern, as the are linked to heart disease.  The study concludes of the 15,000 deaths contributed to this fire pollution in El Nino years, around 10,000 would come from carbon exposure, with the ozone responsible for as many as 5,000.  Smog, containing oz0ne is hard on the respiratory system, especially for those with pre-existing conditions.

Posted under Ag Weather, Ecology, Environment, Fire, International Weather, Pollution

Another week has passed and we have another US Drought Monitor update. There has been some significant rain in some drought-stricken areas, including southern Wisconsin and southern Minnesota but it has not shown up in the Drought Monitor. This is because the tabulation of drought conditions is based upon several factors, not just what happened in the past week, but how much precipitation occurred in the past month, in the past three months, how much moisture is in the soil, water levels in streams and rivers, etc… With several rounds of rain occurring in southern Wisconsin in the past week and potentially again next week, I think we will see the extreme drought subside in southern Wisconsin. It should start to show up in next week’s report.

Of course, there has been a lot of talk about the drought’s impact on food supply and food prices especially considering some drought developing in a few other places in the world. It is at these times that I give thanks for technological progress in agriculture and free trade. Famine was much more likely in the past because people did not have as good of access to food from around the world. The yield of food per acre was also much less. That is why we will probably not see conditions as bad as the 1930s (in the U.S.) repeat themselves today. The prices for food will rise, but severe and persistent shortages (over the course of several years) will probably not occur. As an asied, I wonder if the price of corn will rise high enough for people (well, mostly politicians) to stop supporting grain ethanol production in the U.S. If people start going hungry, I’ll bet grain ethanol production will shut down pretty quick. Ethanol air pollution would disappear pretty quick as well.

Back to the drought and food prices, the trends that are not working in our favor are population growth and urban sprawl. Back in the 1930s, the population of the U.S. was between 120 and 130 million. Now the population is a bit over 300 million. For the world, the number of mouths to feed has risen from a little over 2 billion in the 1930s to about 7 billion today. Seeing this staggering increase in the population makes me even more amazed at the progress in food production that has kept up with population growth (thank you Norman Borlaug). Of course, this means we probably have little tolerance for widespread drought.

Another potential problem is that so much arable land has been taken over by urban sprawl. Total farm acres have declined significantly in the last few years. In the U.S. I am constantly appalled by all of the prime farmland that is being paved over for sub-divisions, freeways, parking lots, and box stores. At least some areas are reverting back to productive use – such as in Detroit. This discussion dovetails nicely with the blog entry from yesterday and a great comment left by Anthony. His observation of younger people in the Twin Cities is that they cannot see the reasons to live out in a far flung suburb anymore.

They (younger people) seem to be ok with mass transit as well. Which is a good thing! Cars are an expensive hassle and liability. If you live close to work you don’t need a car. Nowadays there are more ride sharing and car sharing companies springing up every day (I have profiled RelayRides and ZipCar before). Now carpooling.com is coming to the U.S.

If you don’t have a family why live in a big house in the suburbs? It is expensive and you will end up spending a significant percentage of your life paying the bank, commuting, and stuck in traffic. I think the changing attitudes of younger generations flows along with the change in economics. In the industrial age, no one wanted to live next to a power plant or manufacturing plant. People who grew up mostly on farms, but then ended up working in the city, had a desire to get back into the country (in a sense) and away from work/pollution, hence the suburban sprawl. Now that we are in the information age, it seems younger people want to be close to information. They grew up in the suburbs and exurbs but now want to be in the “action” which is more toward the urban center. What cultural trends have you noticed? Anything that points toward a more sustainable future?

Have a nice Thursday! Meteorologist Justin Loew

Posted under Ag Weather, Drought, Pollution

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor has been issued and it still does not look good for much of the U.S. and half of the state of Wisconsin. Drought conditions have worsened in much of the country, however, a lot of the heavy rains that fell in the Ohio Valley, the Deep South, and the Gulf Coast states over the last few days has not been fully incorporated into the statistics so there might have been some significant improvement in spots – improvement that is not yet incorporated into the interactive map. With the expansion in drought over the last week, I think this is the most drought I have seen covering the U.S. since the inception of the weekly report.

In Wisconsin, there is no caveat to the most recent drought depiction because the southern part of the state has not received any appreciable rain in the past week. There has been very little rain in the northern half of the state either, but ample rain from earlier in the Summer means things are still green and growing around Marathon county and further north. In the south the crops are “almost done/dead” for the season and if rain doesn’t fall this weekend or early next week south of Marathon county, it will probably effectively be the end of the growing season for un-irrigated crops, because it looks like some dry weather for the area late next week and perhaps another couple hot days in the 90s around the 20th of July.

Considering that most of the country is experiencing some degree of drought, I am surprised by the latest USDA corn crop estimate. The latest estimate is for 146 bushels per acre harvest this year which is a significant drop from the previous estimate of 166 bushels per acre, but it is still higher than the average yield of a decade ago, which was around 129 bushels per acre. The last time drought was so widespread across the nation was 1988 and during that year the national corn yield was only about 85 bushels per acre. So why is the corn crop still expected to be so high this year even though it is the most widespread drought in many years? Technology. Here is a good article discussing the modern biotechnology and hybrid technology that helps corn grow in poor conditions. Not only has biotechnology helped corn yields, increased and smarter irrigation methods keep corn (and other grains) growing in dry areas of the country and areas that suffer from periodic lack of rain. I know quite a few people that do not like GMO foods (and for valid reasons) but you cannot deny how biotechnology at least keeps the food flowing. If grain yields were as low as 1988, we would be in much more of a world of hurt.

One industry that could be in a world of hurt if the drought continues and corn yields continue to drop is the ethanol industry. The economic (and AGW) case for using food (corn/grains) to make fuel for our polluting cars has been tenuous at best over the last few years. If the corn yield goes down anymore (and the price of corn continues to rise), it could make grain ethanol production grind to a halt. For which I would say – it is about time. Maybe if people start going hungry in this country, there will be more pressure to drop the ethanol mandate and any subsidies that go along with it. I hate to talk so negatively about an industry that is filled with a lot of honest and well-intentioned people, but grain ethanol just has to go. It had its test run. The numbers don’t add up in most scenarios. Some other people have mentioned the same thing.

Not only is the price of corn going up, but the price of oil is coming down, which means even other more potentially beneficial and economically sound biofuel production will get hurt. Even NASA’s investment in new biofuel production could get the axe, I suspect. I wonder if we would be much better off (if the government HAS to spend money) if the government just bought solar panels and installed them at various facilities across the entire nation. Instead of scandalous crony investments in businesses like Solyndra or new loans to money-losing ethanol and biofuel start-ups, why not spend those billions of dollars buying and installing solar panels. Several billion dollars could buy a lot of megawatts.

Have a nice Thursday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Ag Weather, Alternative Energy, Drought

On this first full day of summer I noticed that the record low for Wausau is 36 degrees set back on June 21st, 1992.  That was a bad day for agriculture and gardens in Wisconsin and other parts of the Upper Midwest.  Many areas had a pretty hard frost which severely hurt crops.  The field corn was a good eighteen inches high by then.  I still to this day remember looking out into our corn field in the late morning and seeing the top 4 or five leaves of the corn plants blackened and shriveling.  There was even an odd aroma in the air that the damaged plants were giving off.  According to the USDA, the corn crop suffered a 30 to 40% yield reduction that season.  A good chunk of that likely came from that highly unusual late season frost. 

Of course many other plants were hurt as well.  They included tomatoes, peppers, flowers, pumpkin, watermelons, and all sorts of vine crops that can’t tolerate cold air.  As is turns out there was scattered frost the night before into the morning of June 20th as well.  That morning, the Wausau Airport had 37 for a low temperature.  On the 21st, the low was 36 degrees, but many rural locations were more in the 30 to 32 degree range.  Cranberry bogs were down into the mid 20s.

In fact that whole month was pretty cool with highs reaching only the 60s on ten days while highs stayed in the 50s on two days!  The average temperature for the month was about 3 degrees colder than normal.  Just for comparison, we’ve only had two days so far in June 2012 where highs stayed in the 60s and that was right at 69.  Well I hope this type of late season disastrous frost remains a distant memory and we don’t have to repeat it anytime soon.

Posted under Ag Weather, Freeze, Records

This time of the year I hear and see so many cool animals and plants in their splendor during the growing season.  It often gets me thinking about how they cope with blazing sun, drying winds, drought, downpours and such.  Certainly they have some behaviors that are fairly reliable indicators of upcoming weather in the short term.

Take for example crickets.  If you count the number of cricket chirps in fourteen seconds then add forty, you have the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit!   Since crickets are cold-blooded animals, their body temperature matches that of its surroundings.   The higher the temperature the faster crickets saw their back legs on their bodies (or chirp).  Some other insects react to temperature by the duration of their song, rather than the rate.  For example the longer a katydids song, the higher the temperature.   The following temperature corresponds to the following katydid phrasing.

78F   Kay-tee-did it

74F   Kay-tee-didn’t

70F   Kay-tee-did

66F   Kate-Didn’t

62F   Kate-tee

58F   Kate

Here’s a few other insect weather proverbs.  Cockroaches are more active before a storm.  Locusts sing while the air is hot and dry.  Before a rain expect ants to be very busy, gnats to bite, crickets to be lively, spiders to leave their nest, and flies to gather in houses.  When spider webs in the air do fly, the spell will soon be very dry.  If garden spiders leave their webs, it indicates rain.  If spiders are many and spinning their webs, the spell soon will become quite dry.

Flowers have a bunch of weather sayings associated with them.  Here are some of them.  When the temperature rises look for tulips to open their blossoms, while they close again when the temperature drops.  The daisy will shut its eye before rain.  If the marigold should open early in the morning and not close until late afternoon, we may expect settled weather.  If the perfume of flowers is unusually strong, expect rain.  Flowers smell their best before a rain.  When ditches and ponds offend the nose, look for rain and stormy blows.  The reason aromatic molecules tend to smell more before a rain is the fact that that the increased humidity allows water molecules to form a layer over the top of the aromatic molecules.  This helps the aromatic molecules to stick better to the moist surfaces of your nose.  As such you smell them better.

Well, be on the lookout for those plant and animal signs all around you as you go about your outdoor activities.  It’s fun and interesting and once in awhile, it could just be useful in figuring out the weather!

Posted under Ag Weather, Ecology, Environment, forecast, Nature

Certainly it’s been pretty dry around our area for the past few weeks with only .02″ of rainfall reported in Wausau for the month of June so far.  A good chunk of the country is on the dry side.  The June 5th drought monitor shows most of the southern half of the country is dealing with abnormally dry conditions as well as part of the north central U.S.  The worst drought is reported in parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida.  It’s also of key concern that the major corn growing areas of Iowa, Illinois, northern Indiana, northern Missouri, and southern MN are quite dry.   If this doesn’t change within the next few weeks it will likely impact yields.

The 8 to 14 day precipitation outlook from CPC for June 16-22 offers  a moist forecast from the northwest part of the country through Minnesota.  It also shows above normal precipitation possible around the southeast U.S.  So the good news is that some sections should get a bit of relief from drought.  Meanwhile rainfall is expected to be near or below normal in much of the rest of the country.  By the way, the dry soil conditions around the Midwest and Plains could very well lead to above normal temperatures in upcoming weeks.  This is because dry ground turns more of the sun’s energy into heat than does wet ground.

Posted under Ag Weather, Drought, forecast