🌱 You’re not crazy. In much of the U.S., spring really is getting earlier. For my Climate Lab column, I built a tool that lets you look up how the timing of spring leaves has shifted where you live since 1981. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi... - ThreadSky

harrystevens.bsky.social • 376 days ago

🌱 You’re not crazy. In much of the U.S., spring really is getting earlier.

For my Climate Lab column, I built a tool that lets you look up how the timing of spring leaves has shifted where you live since 1981.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/spring-earlier-arrival-plants-map/

Comments

weitnachzwoelf.bsky.social•375 days ago

It feels nice but we are doomed. Just imagine your child growing 5 Inch during the night. That is the kind of change we are experiencing.This is NOT GOOD.

deehellcat.bsky.social•376 days ago

thank you for this! I grew up knowing several periods every spring of cold snaps that fell about the time certain plants bloomed, and about when those were. ie, 'redbud winter', 'dogwood winter' etc. Now they're coming earlier and earlier. :(

tomkimmerer.bsky.social•375 days ago

I know your intentions are good, but by failing to distinguish between native plants, which are adapted to local climate, from nonnative plants, which are not, you reduce the credibility of the analysis. I don’t give a crap when ornamental magnolias flower.

havomatic.bsky.social•375 days ago

Paywall

taraandchicken.bsky.social•376 days ago

I live in Saint Paul, MN and confidently planted a bunch of seeds yesterday. Which is weird. We should be staring down our springtime "just kidding, here is a blizzard" weather.

christopherharris.bsky.social•375 days ago

Have you considered doing one of these for the fall arrival of colors? I know that's more complicated, with variables including rainfall and sugar content in the leaves, but it'd be interesting to see. Robert Bardon at NC State has done a lot of work on this, at least for North Carolina.

fragboner.bsky.social•375 days ago

Love your handwriting!!! Very lovely and legible

saxon.bsky.social•375 days ago

That handwriting should be a font, it’s very good

jennwa.bsky.social•375 days ago

I'm a Washington purple, and it sucks. Though our summers seem to be coming sooner and are so much hotter. We seem to just be getting less temperate overall.

loadedtotchos.bsky.social•375 days ago

A little concerning how much purple is based in high agricultural areas and what implications that could have for crop production and yield

cborshuk.bsky.social•375 days ago

Weird this map shows us being later than normal when I can attest that things are much, much earlier 🤷‍♀️

kkishere.bsky.social•375 days ago

Lived in Michigan all my life. I’ve shoveled exactly once this winter. Michigan, ppl!

tamarindapilla.bsky.social•375 days ago

Im in Ontario, it was 10c last night.
Which is wild.

aliceinwonderworld.bsky.social•375 days ago

Great chart! I’ve definitely noticed, nice to see it laid out. Thanks 😊

jaqrabbit.bsky.social•375 days ago

Holland, Michigan has had a Tulip Time festival every spring for nearly a century. They had to reschedule it already back in the 1990s because the tulips were so often blooming and withering before the festival started.

usmc.bsky.social•375 days ago

And the world is flat

darkoverlordofdata.com•375 days ago

Seattle had a local saying about the annual week of summer. It didn't even happen every year. So nothing built here prior to 15 years ago has AC. When I first moved here in 89 the local Ford dealer said they didn't have any cars with AC. Now we get hot and sunny every summer.

lizardky.bsky.social•376 days ago

I've lived in my current home (western KY) for 11 years, longest I've lived in one house since High School, and in that time, each winter has been milder and each spring sooner. We have some severe cold days due to polar vortexes, but much less snow and outside of those plunges, winters are mild.

berrycutepixels.com•375 days ago

Hey neighbor👋🏻 I've lived in the area coming up on 6~ years and I concur, winter is pretty much summed up in a handful of days

dyl057.bsky.social•376 days ago

Definitely how it is here (western PA) too. We'd have long winters interspersed with snow. Lots of sledding when I was a kid! This winter we've had maybe three significant snows, that one terrible polar vortex, and now it's 70°.

jeffles.bsky.social•376 days ago

Me: I knew it!

This map: Hold on there, Bub, you see that spec of purple?

loadedtotchos.bsky.social•375 days ago

Same

harrystevens.bsky.social•376 days ago

🪴 Is global warming involved?

It's still impossible to forecast when leaves will arrive in any given year. But the long term trend shows that leaves’ average arrival date roughly matches the average temperature at the start of each year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/spring-earlier-arrival-plants-map/

jayaisdg.bsky.social•375 days ago

Lived in NJ for nearly 40 years and yeah snow is rare now, trees bud earlier, bulbs are sprouting sooner, mums started sprouting in January. Mosquitos are already all around.

Many insects are disappearing.

It's absolutely crazy and sad.

harrystevens.bsky.social•376 days ago

🌿 As usual, I put the code to produce the graphics on Observable:
- Map: https://observablehq.com/@climatelab/map-trend-spring-leaf-appearance-1981-2023
- Gap chart: https://observablehq.com/@climatelab/trend-spring-leaf-appearance-select-cities
- Historical trend: https://observablehq.com/@climatelab/leaf-appearance-temperature-1900-2023

harrystevens.bsky.social•376 days ago

To get Climate Lab in your inbox every time I publish a new one, sign up here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/follow-harry-stevens/

writerwithcats.bsky.social•375 days ago

I don't imagine Lake Erie is ever going to freeze again.

saraharonson.bsky.social•376 days ago

I'm in Chicago, and I'm comfortable today in a t-shirt. I can't remember it ever being so warm this early.

hdeanbrewer.bsky.social•376 days ago

I am in Northern Michigan and we wore t-shirts yesterday and just a light sweatshirt for going out late last night. There's usually still plenty of snow here, but the trees are already budding...

kmporemski.bsky.social•375 days ago

Yup, about 2 weeks earlier than it used to be. The turkey buzzard migration has also shifted earlier.

epopp.bsky.social•376 days ago

Thank you Harry!!

jtidwell.bsky.social•376 days ago

Thinking about the vast botanical richness of the Great Smokies, esp the spring ephemeral flowers. They're blooming far too early for their insect dependents, aren't they?

(Cherokee NC: leaf-out is 16 days earlier)

dennieedwards.bsky.social•375 days ago

I’ve clearly noticed Fall colors peaking later and Spring trees and flowers blooming sooner.

kelsass.bsky.social•375 days ago

Interesting the correlation between altitude and the most extreme regions of earlier leaf growth.

tarnado.bsky.social•375 days ago

Do you have data on autumnal extension? That's where real mind-blowing changes seem to already have occurred as well.

honestthief.bsky.social•375 days ago

Some of the trees nearby are budding and I'm worried about them.

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