Just a friendly reminder to everyone that Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 9th. Make sure that, before you go to bed the night of the 8th, you turn your clock ahead by one hour to reflect the change.

In what has become an annual tradition, State Climatologist David Zierden was an invited speaker at the Wiregrass Cotton Expo on February 14th, 2014. The program is sponsored by Auburn University and Extension and included experts on cotton and other commodity markets, pests and disease, and cotton varieties and seeds. David Zierden presented on the climate of the past season and the exceptionally rainy summer. The southeast Alabama region was one of the wettest in the country, with the weather station at Geneva, Alabama, registering over 92 inches of rainfall over the past year. That was followed with an assessment of the Pacific Ocean and a discussion of the likelihood of El Nino developing during the summer months. The presentation concluded with an outlook of anticipated rainfall and temperature patterns for the spring and early summer and how the planting season could be impacted.

After having to reschedule due to last month's freezing rain event, Assistant State Climatologist Melissa Griffin spent a day at a local middle school as part of their Visiting Scientist Series, presenting weather and climate basics to 6th grade students. Ms. Griffin talked about cloud formations, global circulation patterns, and, at the students' request, why they got a snow day with no snow. The following day, Ms. Griffin took part in judging 5th grade science fair projects at a Tallahassee area elementary school.

State Climatologist David Zierden is the climate science lead for the Tri-State Climate Working Group for Row Crop Farmers, a learning community formed with funding from NOAA and USDA. The broad aim of this Tri-state climate group is to encourage ongoing interactions among row crop stakeholders for knowledge exchange and learning. Participants explore management options for adapting production systems in the face of a changing and variable climate. Workshops build and strengthen relationships and communication among participants involved in research, outreach, and practice. We emphasize hands-on, peer-to-peer learning through on-farm field visits, experimentation, and in-depth discussions. We strive to facilitate a two-way flow of information and ideas within this network so that local experiences can influence research directions (and vice versa). The group met for the 9th time in three years in Headland, Alabama, on February 20th. Climate topics for this meeting include a review of the 2013/2014 winter weather and possible causes, and an outlook of predicted rainfall and temperature patterns in the spring and summer. Field trips included a visit to a local Satsuma orchard and to various farms employing the use of winter cover crops.

Assistant State Climatologist Melissa Griffin took part in activities at Florida State University's High Magnetic Field Lab (MagLab) Open House on February 22nd. Nearly 5,000 people attended the even, and were able to tour the MagLab and take part in different experiments throughout the day. Ms. Griffin, along with Meredith Field, Amelia Vaughn, Alexandra Keclik and Lauren Zuromski from the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), presented a variety of hands-on atmospheric and oceanographic demonstrations. Ms. Griffin also talked about the CoCoRaHS Program, discussed severe weather, led some simulations of fronts and air masses using a density flow model, created indoor clouds and even quizzed attendees about Florida's climate.

At the end of the month, both David Zierden and Melissa Griffin, along with Vasu Misra, Lydia Stefanova and Tim LaRow of COAPS, met with colleagues from the Florida Department of Health involved on the BRACE (Building Resilience Against Climate Effects) project, funded by the Center for Disease Control. As part of the meeting, the group discussed the work that has gone into climate and health profiles for the state, a review of the products and research that is still being conducted and the climate data needs for the second and third years of the project. 

For more information on the Florida BRACE project, visit: http://www.floridahealth.gov/healthy-environments/climate-and-health/brace.html 

Business lobbying group says 'large parts of Florida' had 'years of below average rainfall' (PolitiFact Florida, 2/13/14)