Weather

Climate is not static

Meteorologist Kyle Tapley addresses Bayer CropScience Corn Soy Future ForumNormal does not usually happen.  Normal, said Kyle Tapley, Senior Agricultural Meteorologist with MDA Weather Services, is just a balancing of the extremes. He told those attending the recent Bayer CropScience Corn Soybean Future Forum in Frankfurt, Germany that people on all sides talk about climate change with too much certainty.

“Personally, I’m on the skeptical side as far as having too much impact in the near future across the Midwest, but it’s undeniable that we’ve seen warming of the climate.  It’s certainly going to impact agriculture.  It’s just really tough at this point to say how much and exactly where we’re going to see the most significant impacts.”

Most of the climate models predict continued warming which means longer growing seasons in some areas, along with more extreme precipitation events.

The Winter of 2013-2014 was one of the coldest on record in parts of the Midwest.  Tapley tells Brownfield to expect less extreme weather this winter, but expect some cold temperatures early in 2015.

A weak El Nino weather pattern moving in will have little impact on the Midwest in the near term, but Tapley said it could bring cooler temperatures next summer.

The meteorologist reminds farmers that “normal” does not usually happen and they need to be ready to adapt.

AUDIO:  Conversation with Kyle Tapley.

(*Photo courtesy ZimmComm)

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