Will record rainfall alter taste, price of summer produce?

(CBS News)Heavy rains and severe flooding across the Southeast throughout the summer are expected to impact the farmers' crops and drive up produce prices across the country. CBS News contributor and physicist Michio Kaku said there has been 34 percent higher-than-average summer rainfall in Georgia, 25 percent higher rainfall in North and South Carolina, and a 22 percent rise in rainfall in Alabama.

Kaku calls the extreme weather a "double whammy" following a drought in the South last summer and says the weather swings could be blamed on higher temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

"On average, temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean have been higher than normal, meaning more moisture gets in the air," Kaku explained Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."

"When that moisture collides with cold air from Canada...that drives tornadoes, hurricanes and all this rainfall."

The heavy rains will likely mean changes to the taste and prices of summer produce, ranging from peaches to watermelon.

"The famous Georgia peach is simply not going to be as sweet as normal," Kaku said. "The water content is rising in the Georgia peach."

"Tennessee tomatoes could have split in the skin," he added.

And, Kaku warned, "50 percent of the watermelon crop in certain areas have been washed out, so watch out at the checkout stand. You may get sticker shock paying for your groceries."