Browse Weather Stories - Page 2

While some U.S. regions, such as the Northeast and Midwest, have experienced consistent cold throughout the winter of 2022, the Southeast region, including Georgia, has seen a winter with varied temperatures. Those unpredictable temperatures, alongside moisture and frost, may have had a direct impact on plant survival, as plants’ ability to thrive or perish is ultimately determined by the weather.

In 2021, Georgia experienced its coldest year since 2014, with an average temperature of 64.5 degrees Fahrenheit. But the temperature was still well above the long-term average of 63.4 F and ranked the 20th warmest year overall since statewide records began in 1895.

December is the start of the three-month winter season here in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2021, December started out 4 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit (F) warmer than normal. Whether this is likely to last through the rest of the winter depends on two major weather patterns that are affecting the winter climate in Georgia.

On June 1, 1991, the first agricultural weather station operated by the University of Georgia began transmitting data from Griffin, Georgia. Since then, the UGA Weather Network has grown to include 87 stations scattered across the state, providing weather data to a variety of users. On June 1 this year, this 30-year record of continuous weather data makes the UGA Weather Network one of the oldest state weather networks in the country.

If you're seeing brown areas in your landscape trees or hedges where you should be seeing green, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension can help. Wet winters and severe weather have been causing disease and other issues in landscape plants, especially Leyland cypress and boxwood.

Between dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and early indications of an especially active hurricane season, University of Georgia experts urge citizens to prepare early and remain prepared for weather-related emergencies.

News of the coronavirus has many people feeling uneasy and helpless. Building a supply of emergency food and water is a task University of Georgia Cooperative Extension experts say will help Georgians prepare for any kind of emergency, be it a medical quarantine, a snowstorm or a major power outage.

Bright green grass across the fields, lawns and roadsides of northern and central Georgia is making those parts of the state look more like Ireland than a typical Georgia in February. Copious rain, coupled with periods of much warmer-than-normal temperatures, is waking up plants early and causing them to green up.

Georgia weather is predictably unpredictable, bitter cold one week and balmy the next. For that reason, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension experts urge Georgia growers to pay close attention to the weather over the coming months and be prepared to use irrigation for frost protection and potential dry conditions as we move into spring.

Georgia’s recent hot, dry weather has dryland peanut farmers making tough decisions about when to dig their crops, according to Scott Monfort, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension peanut agronomist.