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THURSDAY. AUGUST 25. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7A
Rising temperatures mean significant impacts for Georgia
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By Pam Knox
UGA agricultural
climatologist
Halfway through 2022,
Earth is on course for another
top-10 finish in global tem
perature. After six months,
the National Oceanic and At
mospheric Administration
(NOAA) reported that the pe
riod from January through
June 2022 was the planet’s
sixth warmest on record, with
observations that go back to
1880. July has also been
warmer than normal in most
regions, so that top-10 status
is not likely to change.
Getting warmer
By comparison, Georgia
was in a cooler spot on the
globe this year. January
through June totals were only
the 16th warmest for records
that go back to 1895, with an
average temperature of 62.2
degrees Fahrenheit.
The warmest January
through June half-year was in
2017, and the three warmest
years were all in the last
decade — 2017, 2012 and
2019. Other recent warm Jan
uary through June periods
were 1927 (during an excep
tional drought) and 1974,
during a strong El Nino.
While there is a lot of
year-to-year variability in
temperature, Georgia is get
ting warmer along with the
rest of the globe. The major
cause of this increase is the
addition of greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere. Those
gases trap heat near the sur
face of the earth, where we
live.
Other smaller contribu
tions to the warming trend in
clude the expansion of urban
areas and the increase in hu
midity due to warmer ocean
temperatures. Higher humid
ity leads to warmer nights
since water vapor also traps
heat near Earth’s surface.
This is bad for humans as
well as livestock since both
need cooler nights to recover
from the daytime heat.
More urban areas mean
more pavement, which heats
up during the day and re
leases the heat at night. There
are also fewer trees to pro
duce shade. The increase in
humidity is due mainly to the
rise in sea-surface tempera-
Georgia Average Temperature
January-June
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tures around the globe and
the consequent evaporation
of water from the oceans.
Outcomes for
Georgians
In Georgia, warmer tem
peratures in winter can cause
problems for peach and blue
berry farmers, since those
crops need plenty of cold
weather to produce a large
yield in the next growing sea
son. They can also cause
problems for commodity
crops like com and cotton,
since warmer winters allow
insect pests and diseases to
overwinter, making them
more likely to occur during
the next growing season. In
the winter of 2021-22, some
areas of southwest Georgia
did not see their first frost
mid-January, which caused
problems for farmers as their
crops developed over the
summer.
Warmer temperatures in
winter can lead to lower
power bills, as heating may
be needed for fewer hours.
But in summer, air condition
ing costs are expected to in
crease significantly since
hotter summers require more
cooling. This is especially se
rious for people who live in
cities, where the heat is often
10 degrees or more higher
than rural areas outside the
populated areas. If residents
in those areas do not have ac
cess to good air conditioning,
they are in danger of dying
from heat-related illnesses.
Warmer temperatures also
have other effects. The grow
ing season is starting to occur
earlier than it has in the past.
This may be good for farmers
who are eager to start a crop,
but it means that pollen also
starts earlier and the pollen
season lasts longer than it did
years ago. It also means that
flowering trees and plants
that provide food to birds and
pollinators may start to
bloom so early that the ani
mals that depend on those
plants have not migrated
north into our area. This
means they are likely to
starve due to lack of suitable
food sources.
That said, warmer condi
tions do have some positive
effects. Warmer conditions
allow farmers to grow new
crops like satsuma citrus,
olives and pomegranates,
which need warm conditions
to thrive. A longer growing
season could give farmers
more chance of growing two
crops in one year, a method
known as “double-cropping.”
While temperatures are
getting warmer, precipitation
is also changing. Higher tem
peratures lead to more evap
oration and an amplified
water cycle. That means
more floods and droughts
may occur because rain will
come down in heavier bursts,
with longer dry spells in be
tween. This will cause prob
lems for agriculture,
transportation and other in
frastructure, and human
health.
Melting sea ice
The NOAA report also
stated that sea ice is decreas
ing in both the Arctic and
Antarctica as a consequence
of warming global tempera
tures. According to NOAA’s
National Centers for Envi
ronmental Information,
Antarctica saw its lowest
June ice coverage on record.
As the sea ice melts, the
poles get even warmer than
the mid-latitudes because of
the decrease in reflective
snow and ice. This can have
consequences for Georgia by
changing the large-scale
weather pattern across the
Northern Hemisphere, which
is driven by temperature dif
ferences between the Equator
and the North Pole. If that
temperature difference
changes, the pattern of at
mospheric flow may also
shift, bringing unexpected
weather to our state.
By reducing the emission
of greenhouse gases, we may
be able to reduce the amount
of warming in the future. You
can help by reducing your
use of power and fossil fuels
and cutting food waste,
which releases methane, an
other powerful greenhouse
gas, when the unused food
decays.
[Pam Knox serves as a
University of Georgia agri
cultural climatologist with
the Department of Crop and
Soil Sciences.]
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