Plants Blooming Early From Unseasonably Warm Weather

Source

“A very unusual winter, it’s been very warm and this one is one of the most mild I can remember,” said one man from Saddle River, N.J.

“I don’t really miss freezing and having a lot of snow,” said Manhattan resident Cheryl Smith Franco.

“It’s Mother Nature,” said Madeline Byrne from Dobbs Ferry. ”There’s nothing you can do about it so you just enjoy it.”

But Mother Nature may be a little confused by the spring-like warmth.

At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, Japanese apricot trees are in full bloom along with the yellow Adonis plants and azaleas.

The early bloom could make it tough for these plants to survive if we eventually get hit with a dose of winter weather.

“If it gets really cold, single digits at night for days, all the buds will just die,” said Kristin Schleiter with the Botanical Garden. “If it’s a once-blooming plant and it’s their flower bud, they’re gone until next spring.”

It's been unseasonably warm all winter in Colorado too. What does this mean for spring/summer? Is this yet another one of those "once in a hundred years" events?

This may be good weather to someone who doesn't have a dog to walk; this weather is the worst: it means having to clean her from the mud everytime I take her out

Noticed that yesterday as I was strolling around in this mild 62 degree weather we have had the last couple days. There have been more days this winter that I haven't had to wear a jacket than I can ever remember. I'm not complaining, my car got stuck 3 times in the one snow storm we have had this year...in October

im up in southern new england and i was waking home from my music studio to my home and i encountered 3 skunks foraging for food in trash cans. usualy around this time they are all in hibernation. THEN while near a wooded area i saw a little troop of rabbits doing the same thing! now eathier they are also confused about the climate and think its early spring OR they are preparing for the upcomming cold sanp that we will more than likely get in the comming weeks of febuary. Or mabey im wrong and its just gonna be like that twilight zone episode where the earth is slowly getting closer to the sun.

reply to post by AnonymousCitizen


I don't know about any once in a hundred years event but my backyard is growing back fast and leaves on trees that don't usually grow back until spring are grow back quite fast the last few weeks. Flowers on vines are starting to grow where as normally they don't start blomming until spring.

My stupid Husky is shedding all over again! Aaaaarrrrrgh! Its been in the 50s for the last couple weeks. A good 30 degrees above normal. The weathermen don't know what to say.

My concern is that everything starts to bloom and then a freeze spell hits with ice and snow. Will that kill everything off because it's no longer dormant or will the trees, plants, grass, etc... just go dormant again?

I'm also concerned with this very mild winter, that there be an excessive amount of bugs this summer.

The Gorse, (Whin) and there is a lot of it here, is flowering here now, instead of spring or Autumn. However, it has become cold again. It will be interesting to see how it behaves when Spring does arrive.

Could be a sign that El Nino is returning soon. So we can expect dry warm weather now, and be bombarded by heavy rains in months to come.

El Nino

Just a guess, but if I remember correctly that year from the link I posted above it was the same way during the winter time, and by spring it was chaotic.

We have trees budding out here in Vermont. Which is the eff crazy, totally unprecedented. Our tourism industry relies on snowfall, so that's tanked this year. Maple syrup production will also be negatively impacted. I never thought I'd miss four feet of snow on the ground for five straight months, but I do. I'm flipping out on a pure animal level, and so is everyone else here.

reply to post by Eidolon23


The hills here in southwest Virginia usually always gets a good bit of snow and always gets really cold, but not this year...I've been walking around in short sleeves and shorts in the middle of friggin January, totally not normal for here.

It has been very mild here in East Tennessee. I was driving home the other day and saw some daffodils is bloom. I could not believe it. I almost stopped and took a picture, but it was in someone's yard and I didn't want to be creepy.

There was a weather report last week were they compared the weather so far this year to the weather of 1993. That year we had a tornado in late February & a blizzard a few weeks after! I wouldn't mind the snow, but '93 can keep the tornado!

OiO

reply to post by OneisOne


Damn right! Tornadoes can stay away this year, my town got wrecked by one last April.

nibiru!!!!! or because whole milky way is now spinning closer to some other part of the universe in this age?

reply to post by SuperTripps

Mild here in Scotland too.

Today I noticed a patch of Snowdrops in full bloom. They were noticeable because there's no snow and they were outstanding in the sunshine.We are being warned of cold air headed this way from Siberia though so winter could still happen yet.

It is 34 f outside.
I am in northern MN and this winter has been MILD. Oddly, if I understand how La Nina and El Nino work, this is a La Nina year, and when we have those, here it is normally brutally cold, worse than what it is normally in the winter.
Normally, in Feb, the temp hovers around -10 to -15 and doesn't start to warm up until mid march really. This year the temps have hovered around 25 f. It reminds me of the climate in southeast Alaska, where it usually stays around 28 to 35 f in the winter because of the Japanese currents.

We have had a couple of cold snaps, but normally they don't go away, this year, it seems opposite of what it normally does.

I know that in southeast Alaska it has been brutally cold this year. Almost like we switched climates....lol
I am not complaining, other than to say it is odd.

reply to post by bigyin


Where I live it is 59 degrees outside on the first of february.
We should be having cold winds and snow.I figure we will
get our "winter" weather in april,may and june! Just in time
for spring planting.

Originally posted by KnightFire
My concern is that everything starts to bloom and then a freeze spell hits with ice and snow. Will that kill everything off because it's no longer dormant or will the trees, plants, grass, etc... just go dormant again?

I'm also concerned with this very mild winter, that there be an excessive amount of bugs this summer.

Yes, this is something to be concerned about. For example, in the article it talks about the apricot trees in full bloom. So if we do get a cold snap, all those blooms will freeze and that is it for that tree. No apricots this year.

If the cold snap is harsh enough for long enough, the tree itself can also be killed because it came out of its dormant phase, can't withstand the weather, and now its dead. (they are dormant in winter for a reason). No apricots from that tree ever again.

Now, multiply this by ALL the trees, plants, bushes, berries, fruits, grains, nuts, etc. etc. that are blooming early and you will see that this warm spell can cause a HUGE amount of trouble.

And let's not even get started on the lack of snow pack that melts slowly and provides water through the summer to many other parts of the US (and the world of course)......

JUNEuary is not a good thing. There will either be a cold snap and (see above), or there won't, and that's just freaky.

We have all noticed a different temperature fluctuation than previous years.
But the only thing we can do is ride it out, because we can't control it.
It is milder than I can remember in all my life, and definitely strange.

I haven't really seen any animals come out of hibernation, and I live in the woods...
So, that's a good thing.

Nor have I witnessed any type of plant growth, yet.

But I have seen Canadian Geese stick around which is rare because they always fly south.
Also, I hear crows and see birds that I normally don't see flying around.
So this weather is definitely affecting some animals.

Either way I can't be too worried about it.
I'm getting alot more accomplished and using less firewood.
It's not like I can do anything about it.
The Earth changes with or without mankind in its way.
So why worry?