North Carolina is experiencing warmer winters that disrupt agriculture, tourism and daily life, with temperatures rising faster than the national average.
This prolonged warm season is impacting agriculture. Michelle Pace Davis, with Pace Family Farms in Clayton, has noticed the effects of recent erratic weather, from heavy rain to drought. She also says it’s harder to keep pests at bay. “With these warmer winters, pests can survive longer and affect our crops more, and that, in turn, increases costs,” she says.
Warmer temperatures extend the growing season, but they also bring new challenges for farmers, who now have to contend with pests that would typically die off in the cold.
The longer warm season also extends the mosquito and allergy seasons. Lauren Casey, a meteorologist with Climate Central, notes that warmer winters are affecting health in a variety of ways. “In the past, we could count on the cold weather to kill off mosquitoes and keep allergies at bay, but now we’re seeing them stick around longer,” she explains.
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