Understanding how El Nino, La Nina affected Midwest climate, crops

With the Climate Prediction Center issuing a La Nina watch for this upcoming winter, the Nebraska State Climate Office would like you to be aware of a suite of products that may help you understand how temperature and precipitation reacted to La Nina and El Nino episodes since the 1950’s.   The uniqueness of these data products is that agricultural producers can now match up their yield records with past events to see how their local area production matches up individual events.

September temperatures mostly above average

September delivered temperatures that were mostly above average, in some areas by 3 degrees or more, though there were pockets in the western part of Nebraska that were below normal. Above-average precipitation hindered farmers' efforts to get crops out of the field, but reduced drought in areas of the state. Learn more about how the state's climate affected Nebraskans in this month's edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.

August temps below normal for Nebraska

August saw temperatures dip below normal, in some areas by as much as 5 degrees on average; it was the first time in the period of record that Norfolk and Grand Island didn't see temperatures hit 90 degrees at all any day during the month. Precipitation, on the other hand, was above-normal for much of the state. Learn more about how the variables affected Nebraskans in this month's edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.

Hourly, daily climate data available for research

The Nebraska State Climate Office would like to remind the general public that historical Mesonet data is available to the public in hourly and/or daily format. With Dicamba herbicide injury reports surging during the past few weeks, we want the public to be aware that data is available to research whether climatic conditions were a contributing factor. Entities looking to acquire Mesonet observation data should contact the State Climate Office at (402)-472-5206.

Summer quarterly newsletter: Mesonet maintenance on track

The Nebraska State Climate Office has released the summer edition of Climate Crossroads, its quarterly newsletter. In this issue, you can get up to date on:

  • Mesonet maintenance - we're on track!
  • The summer climate outlook;
  • A project helping cities plan for climate risks; and
  • NSCO services to our stakeholders: 14 talks to 510 individuals this quarter, 36 data requests filled.

Click here to view the newsletter.

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