Here is an interactive
map that enables you to see exactly how the weather has gotten warmer in the US this
spring. Eastern
North America has had an early spring with record breaking
temperatures stretching for thousands of kilometers. When we put the climate
data together we see that over the past several decades, with the exception of
the Southeast, spring weather has indeed been arriving earlier.
interactive below, you can see how much earlier spring has arrived
state-by-state, measured by the date of first leaf. As you hover over any
state, it’ll display two boxes—a gray box that represents the day spring used
to arrive (based on the 1951-1980 average) and a colored box that represents
how much earlier spring has arrived (based on the 1981-2010 average).
date of “first leaf” has clearly shifted—arriving roughly 4 days earlier now on
March 17 (1981-2010 average) from March 20 (1951-1980 average). This shift
affects all sorts of biological processes that are triggered by warmer temperatures—not
just flowering, but animal migration and giving birth and the shedding of
winter coats and the emergence from cocoons.
spring may disrupt the intricate natural balance between the tens of thousands
of species that depend on each other for food, reproduction and ultimately,
survival.
the map comes from an index for the onset of spring developed by Mark D.
Schwartz (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and USA
National Phenology Network colleagues. The index, based on temperature
variables measured at individual weather stations, estimates the first day that
leaves appear on plants in a given state. To come up with a US estimate as
a whole, they took the average change across 716 weather stations spread across
the lower 48 states.
To use
the map’s interactive features, click here.
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