"An island of dryness among a sea of rain! I never wore a jacket." - exclaimed a UF/IFAS county Extension agent in response to an inquiry about the impacts of this year's "Super" El Niño on row crop production. A producer from Alabama presented a different perspective, emphasizing excessive rainfall in his area: "It cost more money to get all of the crop out in time. We had to invest in more equipment but it paid off. It was good that climatologists put that El Niño in the context of the 1997 one. That really struck me (because we had) 5-6 weeks in the field where we could not even operate the equipment."  

Discussions among producers, Extension agents, and researchers meandered back and forth about regional differences in the effects of El Niño, concluding that ENSO signals were not felt equally across the entire Southeast. Despite this diversity, however, participants ranked the utility of the seasonal forecast favorably. Thirty-five people [AL (19), FL (12), GA (4)] attended the 13 th  meeting of the tri-state climate learning network, held in Headland, AL on March 14 th.   The agenda included presentations and reflections on irrigation scheduling, phenology-based decision tools, and cover crop management.  For more information & updates, see report here.