Year-to-year variability in both temperature and precipitation is high for this region. Drought and flood are both common occurrences. Sometimes conditions can change quickly from one extreme to another. For example, portions of the Missouri Basin were impacted with heavy snowfall, rain, and flooding during 2011, while the following year (2012) was characterized by widespread drought conditions and anomalous warmth.
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REFERENCES Kottek, M., Grieser, J., Beck, C., Rudolf, B., & Rubel, F. (2006). World map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated. World Maps of Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification. http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/present.htm
Climate Change
Our climate varies naturally as a result of large-scale pattern shifts in the ocean and/or atmosphere. One such example is El Niño and La Niña, phases in ocean circulation and associated atmospheric patterns in the equatorial Pacific that have ramifications on the weather globally. These events cycle and are short-lived, lasting on the order of a few months to a few years. We also experience changes in our climate due to other factors, such as volcanic eruptions that temporarily cool the global average temperature. Humans influence the climate by altering the environment (building and expanding urban infrastructure, irrigating crop fields) and emitting greenhouse gases. There is a naturally-occurring greenhouse effect in which gases in our atmosphere, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, absorb and re-emit thermal energy. Water vapor and carbon dioxide keep atmospheric temperatures ~60°F warmer than if these gases were not present – a good thing as life on Earth would not be possible without this greenhouse effect! However, due to an artificial buildup of greenhouse gases, largely from fossil fuel combustion, the natural carbon cycle is not able to keep up and is therefore out of balance. As such, global average temperatures are on the rise and causing shifts in not only temperature, but precipitation regimes, more extreme drought and flood events, heat waves and storms. Over the last century, the earth has warmed about 1.5°F, however there is regional variability to the rate of warming. The overall warming has caused local and regional changes including setting more heat than cold records. Precipitation is changing with wet areas getting wetter, and dry areas getting drier, sea levels are rising, and frozen regions of the world are melting, particularly in the Arctic. Primary ways that the agricultural sector can mitigate its impact on the climate is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, increase efficiency and resource management, sequester more carbon in the soil, and improve soil health.
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