Why is Spring coming earlier these days?

Question

"This winter and early spring have been the worst in 60 years."

This is a lie. From Foxnews, no less.

"The global temperature for meteorological winter — December, January and February — averaged 54.38 degrees Fahrenheit, 0.58 degrees warmer than normal for the last century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,337655,00.html?sPage=fnc/scitech/naturalscience

"

Answer 1

it isnt dumbass  comes on the same day every year

Answer 2

Why do you even bother to ask this question?  Given your past history, this is simply trolling for people who agree with you or people who disagree.  You already have your mind made up.

This winter and early spring have been the worst in 60 years.  Find a better year to ask the question.  We are freezing here in Virginia at 45 degrees when it's usually 60-70 right now.

Answer 3

Tell us where spring came earlier Bob, there have been reports from all over of colder than normal winters and spring arriving late.

You're actually posting from venus aren't you, you can level with us. Is that where spring is earlier??

Answer 4

Because we set the clocks forward an hour for Daylight Savings.  These days, everything comes an hour earlier than it did a few months ago.

Edit:  Wow, now we're using century-long averages for comparison...<snickers>

Answer 5

This is because of the effects of global warming. We get closer to the sun, so that way, we have a closer spring because the world is warming up.

You should notice that the winter is getting colder aswell, due to changes in the atmosphere, but it doesn't really help when us humans are polluting with our snazzy cars and "i don't care" attitude.

Enviroment is cool!

Answer 6

Come on Bob, I expect better from you. The article still says it is the coolest since 2001. Any one of the Anti-AGW folk will be along shortly to say this is proof we are cooling again. Something to the effect that we peaked and this is still a sign AGW is over. And using Fox as a source? You might as well use National enquirer or quote Newt Gingrich. Well I couldn't tell you about spring because it's always the same temperature here in sunny Hawaii, have a great day.

Answer 7

Still feels like Winter here in Oklahoma. I had to scrape frost off of my windshield this morning. Haven't had to do that in April for a very long time. We even had the fireplace going yesterday.

I usually have my garden planted by April first. Last year we had a late freeze that damaged the peach crop and I had to cover my plants. This year I decided to wait until April 15th and I may wait even longer now, because we are still getting cold weather.

Bob said: "Scientists have shown that many signs of Spring are happening earlier. Trees greening up, birds migrating, etc. This is solid science."

I'm sure it was true up until 2006. We could have said the same thing in 1940 or 1300A.D. or 300 A.D. or 1100B.C.

http://www.longrangeweather.com/images/G...

Answer 8

Because we are at the apex of an interglacial period Bob, would you prefer that winter drag on until July?

Answer 9

Once again you show your ignorance of the basic facts surrounding climate and season.  Spring does not come earlier, it has never come earlier, it has always come at the same time every year, it's called the vernal equinox.

Are you sure you are a scientist?

Answer 10

Is this one of those optimal-vs-average questions? I always found humor in someone trying to standardize a chaotic system. If one glacier melts at 5-7 degrees above average and another has a normal cycle in a different local. Is that weather or climate? What is this indiscriminate as opposed to the discriminate, stuff all about anyway? Why is it being used interchangeably? We've always had a temporal spring and are having one now. All seasons are transitional phase's except for a few locals. When that ends you better worry, it doesn't mean anything if they are late or early.

Edit: JS, in Australia some extinct species have made a come back. Blame it on the climate if you like.( Yahoo news) yesterday.

Edit: Dr. Blob, it's hard to beat a one liner. But I have no concept as to what short is?

Edit: Bob, (Larry) made a good point, why do you use different dates (at least six ) to recognize that GW has always came back. If it was standardize you would not have to.

Edit: (Larry), I've got to go and cover my peppers and tomato's . I hate these late freezes third year in a row. The cool weather plants are doing great.

Answer 11

it only `seems` earlier to all of us , as Historical World Weather Recordings are not   "accurate"   enough for any-one to give a concise report on what`s happening NOW.

YES , the effects of the Motions being committed by Man-kind (pollution and land-clearing) are having an in-disputable affect on our current Climate , BUT we cannot lay total blame on US.

who on this Planet can tell me/you that the Weather is not CYCLIC?   ie...comes around in this form every 64yrs , 134yrs. or 267yrs....?    as a natural Occurence?

Halleys Comet IS predictable , it comes around every 76yrs.  

World Weather Indices date back only about 165 years , that`s not enough info. to formulate a Predictive set of Confirmative Data , is it?

Scientists and Lobby-ists will deliver the Doomsday Report on our current actions , at will and constantly , but to no avail with-out Definitives.

sorry , but i`ve got to say that we cannot expect to Fore-cast (CORRECTLY) any-thing that we don`t about 100%.

i can tell you that Weather Fore-casting is  "guesstimation" , 100%.

enjoy the weather , dress appropriately and live for Tomorrow.

Answer 12

Well Bob,  In VA today, Monday the 14th of April, its snowing, so you tell ME why spring is coming earlier if you can.

Answer 13

Wait a second, Bob. Your "proof" is from places like Wyoming and a few other states, and you still say its happening everywhere. Do you have the "proof" to back up your assertion that it's happening everywhere?

Bob said: "Science doesn't get any solider than this."

I couldn't help but laugh at this sentence.

Anyhow, the idea that spring coming earlier means anything is a slightly peculiar thought. The Earth has gotten warmer, I will always admit that.

And this spring has been one of the latest in years for many places. Does that mean anything? No.

I just glanced at J.S.'s post and saw the following:

"The peer-reviewed study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, statistically links global warming from the burning of fossil fuels."

Was this Root's study? That doesn't make any sense, Terry Root is an ecologist and the study is about plants flowering earlier than usual. Want to revise that? And Dena MacMynowski wildly over reaches her findings with statements like:

“Natural variation in the earth’s temperature, such as that caused by solar output or volcanoes, is not an adequate explanation, global warming is real and almost certainly caused by human actions.”

Such things make them sound biased. They really shouldn't over reach their findings so greatly-- bad for credibility.

Oh, and one more thing--spring coming earlier in a few locales sounds like regional climate, not global. You believers always say that the MWP and LIA were only regional, that they don't really matter. You can't have it both ways.

Answer 14

Spring comes at the same time each year!  The days may vary according to leap year and the calendar, but the equinox is the same.  Stop looking at the calendar or the weather, look at the moon!

Answer 15

The seasons are based upon earth position to the sun and we have established dates, have nothing to do with weather. For a scientist you should know better, if I were to base the spring up here in Northern Wisconsin based upon weather then we are still in winter since it is colder then the average spring and we have around 9-10 inches of snow.  Therefore based upon the physical evidence we are no longer in a warming period we are in a cooling period. The reality is weather and climate are unpredictable.

Answer 16

We had a heat wave last week with temperatures from 45 to 50 degrees centigrade,

and yesterday we had rain ,

we never have rain until June

Do you think that maybe the Climate has changes

Or was the heat wave a conspiracy theory.

No it was sophomoric

so everybody relax

Answer 17

"Spring coming early" is hardly a universal statement.  If you looking into where this is happening and the multi decadal cycles (PDO AMO and AO)involved in that area's weather, you'll find your answer.

Please, this is sophomoric.

Answer 18

The science not only shows that Spring is arriving earlier on a global basis, but also that it's statistically linked to global warming:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

"The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too fast," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said.

Blame global warming.

The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state.

What's happening is so noticeable that scientists can track it from space. Satellites measuring when land turns green found that spring "green-up" is arriving eight hours earlier every year on average since 1982 north of the Mason-Dixon line. In much of Florida and southern Texas and Louisiana, the satellites show spring coming a tad later, and bizarrely, in a complicated way, global warming can explain that too, the scientists said.

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The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze.

The young of tree swallows — which in upstate New York are laying eggs nine days earlier than in the 1960s — often starve in those last gasp cold snaps because insects stop flying in the cold, ornithologists said. University of Maryland biology professor David Inouye noticed an unusually early February robin in his neighborhood this year and noted, "Sometimes the early bird is the one that's killed by the winter storm."

The checkerspot butterfly disappeared from Stanford's Jasper Ridge preserve because shifts in rainfall patterns changed the timing of plants on which it develops. When the plant dries out too early, the caterpillars die, said Notre Dame biology professor Jessica Hellmann.

"It's an early warning sign in that it's an additional onslaught that a lot of our threatened species can't handle," Hellmann said.

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• A photo of Lowell Cemetery, in Lowell, Mass., taken May 30, 1868, shows bare limbs. But the same scene photographed May 30, 2005, by Boston University biology professor Richard Primack shows them in full spring greenery.

• ...lilacs and honeysuckle. In the West they are coming out two to four days earlier each decade over more than half a century, according to a 2001 study.

• ...increased allergies. Spring airborne pollen is being released about 20 hours earlier every year, according to a Swiss study that looked at common allergies since 1979.

• ...honey. Bees, which sample many plants, are producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier. The nectar is coming from different plants now, which means noticeably different honey — at least in Highland, Md., where Wayne Esaias has been monitoring honey production since 1992. Instead of the rich, red, earthy tulip poplar honey that used to be prevalent, bees are producing lighter, fruitier black locust honey. Esaias, a NASA oceanographer as well as beekeeper, says global warming is a factor.

In Washington, seven of the last 20 Cherry Blossom Festivals have started after peak bloom. This year will be close, the National Park Service predicts. Last year, Knoxville's dogwood blooms came and went before the city's dogwood festival started. Boston's Arnold Arboretum permanently rescheduled Lilac Sunday to a May date eight days earlier than it once was.

Even western wildfires have a timing connection to global warming and are coming earlier. An early spring generally means the plants that fuel fires are drier, producing nastier fire seasons, said University of Arizona geology professor Steve Yool. It's such a good correlation that Weltzin, the phenology network director, is talking about using real-time lilac data to predict upcoming fire seasons. Lilacs, which are found in most parts of the country, offer some of the broadest climate overview data going back to the 1950s.

This year, though, it's the early red maple that's creating buzz, as well as sniffles. A New Jersey conservationist posted an urgent message on a biology listserv on Feb. 1 about the early blooming. A 2001 study found that since 1970, that tree is blossoming on average at least 19 days earlier in Washington, D.C.

Such changes have "implications for the animals that are dependent on this plant," Weltzin said, as he stood beneath a blooming red maple in late February. By the time the animals arrive, "the flowers may already be done for the year." The animals may have to find a new food source.

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Spring in U.S. Northeast is arriving week earlier than 40 years ago due to greenhouse-gas warming trend, Cornell study finds

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec...

PLANT PHENOLOGY IN WESTERN CANADA: TRENDS AND LINKS TO THE VIEW FROMSPACE

http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/mhallbey/pubs_...

"One feature of climate change is the trends to earlier spring onset in many north temperate areas of the world. The timing of spring flowering and leafing of perennial plants is largely controlled by temperature accumulation; both temperature and phenological records illustrate changes in recent decades. Phenology studies date back over a century, with extensive databases existing for western Canada."

http://www.umt.edu/mnps/blooming_earlier...

"In Washington, D.C., Abu-Aseb, et al. (2001), using a database, recorded earlier flowering in 89 of 100 non-cultivated native and non-native species in the last 30 years (1970-1999). The authors mentioned that the famous cherry blossoms (two species of Prunus) have been blooming 6-7 days earlier than they did in 1970."

In flowers, BU botanists see global warming

http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2004/09...

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Literature Cited



Abu-Asab, M.S., P. M. Peterson, S. G. Shetler & S. S. Orli.  2001.  Earlier plant flowering in spring as a response to global warming in the Washington, D. C. area.  Biodiversity and Conservation 10: 597-612.

Beaubien, E. G. & B. M. Hall.  2003.  Plant phenology in western Canada; trends and links to the view from space.  Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 88: 419-429.

Bradley, N. L., A. Carl Leopold, J. Ross & W. Huffaker.  1999.  Phenological changes reflect climate change in Wisconsin.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96: 9701-9704.

Caprio, J.M.  1993.  A collection of the annual reports to cooperators of the phenological survey in the western region of the U.S. and related phenological information for the period 1956-1992.  State Climate Center Circular No. 2, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU, Bozeman Annual Meeting Abstracts 31: 7

Primack, D., C. Imbres, R. B. Primack, A. J. Miller-Rushing & P. Del Tridici.  2004. Herbarium specimens demonstrate earlier flowering times in response to warming in Boston.  American Journal of Botany 91: 1260-1264.

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Here's more:

Global warming brings early spring

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2005/5...

Man-made global warming has caused spring weather to appear an average of 10 days earlier than the start of spring 30 years ago, according to a report released Monday by Stanford scientists.

The researchers looked at approximately 130 species within 41 150-square mile grids.

“Global warming is the largest-scale threat faced by the planet today, crossing the boundaries of countries, economics, cultures and ecosystems,” said Dena MacMynowski, a post-doctoral student working with Root to research large-scale ecological changes caused by global warming. “Changes in timing of plant and animal behavior, such as flowers blooming or arrival of migrant birds, which are associated with climatic change have been documented.”

MacMynowski added that the study is novel because it shows that the majority of these changes can be best explained by the human injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

“Natural variation in the earth’s temperature, such as that caused by solar output or volcanoes, is not an adequate explanation,” MacMynowski said. “Global warming is real and almost certainly caused by human actions.”

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More details on that global study by Stanford researchers:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/...

Mother Nature has rushed spring forward by nearly 10 days worldwide, on average, in just 30 years, the study shows.

What this means, biologists say, is that the global environment is changing so fast that the slow evolutionary process of species adaptation can't keep up. Early-arriving birds could crowd out birds that migrate only in longer daylight, leaving them insufficient food. Early blossoming flowers - such as the columbine - could be wiped out by spring snowstorms.

"What we're really concerned about is this tearing apart of communities; some species are going to be changing, and some are not," said study co-author Terry Root, an ecologist at Stanford's Center for Environmental Science and Policy.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, statistically links global warming from the burning of fossil fuels.

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Amazing how a little science causes some people to stick their heads in the sand.

Answer 19

its not...its 36 degrees and theres a little snow from last night,,,in Virginia...

Answer 20

Al, is that you??

Answer 21

global warming

WHY WONT YOU ADD ME TO YOU CONTACTS??!!!!

Answer 22

A 2006 study to prove spring arrived earlier this year.  Come on.

By the way if spring has arrived earlier these days why are you still wearing your toque? -)

Answer 23

God knows our time here is short, so he'd like longer summers for us to enjoy.

edit:

Ha!  I knew it!  "Solider" isn't a word! That's it man, I've had it!  You're unbelieveable!  Your whole argument is bunk! ;)

Answer 24

some species are now flowering (and birds breeding) a month earlier than a century ago round here, by the phenologists* records.

*it's a bit of an english hobby, first cuckoo, all that.

Answer 25

It is not, It came on the same day it always does.