Global Warming Could Sink Rand Paul

July was the 4th-hottest month in Louisville history.

But how bad could global warming really be for Kentucky? We're far and high enough from the ocean that rising seas just mean a quicker drive to the new beach. Shorter, warmer winters mean lower heating bills. A longer growing season means bumper crops, right?

Wrong.

Weather extremes likely attributable to the climate instability of global warming are ruining Kentucky's corn crop.

Jeffrey McMurray at the Courier:

Corn and soybean farmers in western Kentucky are accustomed to adapting to spring floods or summer droughts, but the combination of both in the same year threatens to make this harvest season one of the shortest in recent memory.

May downpours forced farmers to plant crops later than usual, and the lack of rain in June and July could also force them to harvest it weeks earlier than they want.

Darian Irvan, a University of Kentucky agriculture and natural resources agent for Hickman County, said corn is now at most shoulder high. Even more problematic, he said, is how little of it appears to be usable on each stalk.

“When the temperatures get up above 90 degrees, corn has a hard time pollenating,” Irvan said. “You pull the shuck back, there might be 15 kernels on the cob. Several cobs have three to four, or less.”

Although temperatures were cooling to the mid-80s by Friday, much of the damage has been done, prompting the likely premature harvest possibly as early as mid-August.

Before November, Kentucky farmers are going to be lining up for federal crop relief. When Rand Paul goes on television to berate them for sucking at the big-government teat, will that finally persuade Kentucky voters that the teabaggers don't have our best interests at heart?

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....