SAN DIEGO — The arctic outbreak is expanding into the Southern United States and nearly 80% of the country is experiencing below freezing temperatures.
Icy roads are contributing to major accidents which are impacting the transportation of goods but the weather is also affecting livestock.
Big rigs were seen jackknifed on roads in Idaho and iced over planes were delayed at airport terminals.
“I think that any sort of disruptions to the shipment of goods is just going to be temporary,” said Alan Gin, PhD, University of San Diego professor of economics.
He says long-term, consumers should expect to pay more for meat at the grocery store.
“There is a worry about the food prices. That could be longer lasting, because I’ve read that the slaughter rate is down considerably, in terms of hogs and cattle,” said Gin.
Commodity experts said if cattle are not eating as much in the storm, they're not ready for market, which tightens supply and drives up the price of beef in the grocery store.
Gin says crops could soon be impacted. He says consumers should expect this to stay on trend with other goods.
"We're going to see them more often. In fact, weather related impacts have been rated the number one potential disruptor in terms of supply chain for 2024,” said Gin.
With El Niño and the drought in this year's forecast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts this year to be on trend with 2023.
NOAA tallied 28 separate natural disasters in 2023 that mostly impacted agriculture, crops, livestock and cost increases.
"It was another very active year, the cumulative cost was $93 billion and unfortunately it, it took 492 lives,” said Adam Smith, Applied Climatologist, NOAA.
Everstream Analytics studies supply chains and released its 2024 risk report two weeks ago. They found extreme weather to be the biggest disruptor.
“I just saw a study that said in the 1980s, there was a billion-dollar event affecting the US economy every four months. Now, it's a billion-dollar event every three weeks from weather occurring in the U.S.,” said Gin.
If this is the case, Gin says businesses need to start building weather into their plan to have inventory and keep costs down.
“It’s a new territory for businesses that they have to deal with. And so, they're learning how to manage things better,” said Gin.
Fed Ex has posted alerts letting customers know there may be a delay in deliveries nationwide due to weather disruptions at its Memphis hub.
USPS and UPS have not posted alerts and neither has Amazon but one of the big rigs that jackknifed in Idaho was an Amazon semitruck.
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