I went to the doctor the other night because I feel horrible- but its not the flu (as one might expect this time of year) it is acute sinus problems, caused by what is essentially spring allergies that are hitting in December. The worst of both worlds... and now I have to spend even winter days drugged up like its April. Claritin, Flonase, Nasocort, Benadryl, pseudophedrine, saline mist spray, eye drops, Olbas inhaler, this stinks. :(
I saw cherry trees blooming in Brooklyn on 12/18
A row of them down E40th Street - shocking to say the least.
Its Christmas time !
A row of them down E40th Street - shocking to say the least.
Its Christmas time !
I wonder what the implications are for farm crops that depend on flowers to bear fruit?. It seems that once we get hit by a cold spell, and there is no bloom next spring, there will be not be as much fruit or seed?
I think people have to be very careful when attributing this warm spell to "global warming". It is really no smarter than when a right wing nut says on a bitterly cold day in January "well, so much for that global warming." Such talk hands them the ammunition they need to attack any attempt to change our habits and slow the pumping of CO2 into the atmosphere.
People concerned with climate change must keep to the big picture ... you can't use a limited sample of data to prove anything; there will always be outliers. Need to keep to talking points (just like the kooky deniers do) though, in this case, scientifically-based: CO2 levels are at the highest they have been in several million years; CO2 is a heat-trapping gas; global temperatures are on a consistent warming trend; this causes oceans to rise, more extreme weather, etc. Stay on point!
If I flip a coin 10 times, and it comes up heads nine times, that does not mean the coin is biased. If I perform 20 series of 10 flips, and it comes out heads
consistently 8 or 9 times, I might be onto something and look at the coin.
People concerned with climate change must keep to the big picture ... you can't use a limited sample of data to prove anything; there will always be outliers. Need to keep to talking points (just like the kooky deniers do) though, in this case, scientifically-based: CO2 levels are at the highest they have been in several million years; CO2 is a heat-trapping gas; global temperatures are on a consistent warming trend; this causes oceans to rise, more extreme weather, etc. Stay on point!
If I flip a coin 10 times, and it comes up heads nine times, that does not mean the coin is biased. If I perform 20 series of 10 flips, and it comes out heads
consistently 8 or 9 times, I might be onto something and look at the coin.
5
I have several plants alive and well on my New York City terrace--still here from the summer. My dianthus in particular has several blooms on it. Why are you asking us to only send photos through Instagram? As others have said, many of us are not on Instagram and would love to send in a picture of flowers they've seen!
So... the last paragraph suggests this is a one-time occurrence (due to El Nino?). The author is a science reporter... Mr. St.Fleur... please provide some sort of scientific analysis.
I personally have seen many little white moths and insects buzzing around. Should I assume their populations will be stunted for upcoming seasons, too? What kind of short-term or long-term effect could this have on ecology and niches?
I personally have seen many little white moths and insects buzzing around. Should I assume their populations will be stunted for upcoming seasons, too? What kind of short-term or long-term effect could this have on ecology and niches?
2
Same in Europe, too. In Mid-Norway, just below the Arctic Circle, the first flowers of spring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemone_nemorosa bloomed on the winter solstice: http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/moreromsdal/2015/12/21/Her-blomstrer-hvitv...
And roses bloomed on Christmas Eve: http://www.adressa.no/vaeret/2015/12/25/Rekordvarm-julekveld-i-Trondheim... Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
And roses bloomed on Christmas Eve: http://www.adressa.no/vaeret/2015/12/25/Rekordvarm-julekveld-i-Trondheim... Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
2
I too have been seeing strange patterns in the plants (and insects), but has anyone else noticed...
the sky?
I don't know enough atmospheric physics to explain it correctly, but clearly here in the NE USA some combination of sun angle, atmospheric humidity, cloud and high-altitude ice crystal (or lack thereof) formation is creating an unusual winter sky.
Heart-breakingly beautiful, but disorienting and spooky as well-- I keep thinking I'm in one of those science fiction alternate dimension stories.
the sky?
I don't know enough atmospheric physics to explain it correctly, but clearly here in the NE USA some combination of sun angle, atmospheric humidity, cloud and high-altitude ice crystal (or lack thereof) formation is creating an unusual winter sky.
Heart-breakingly beautiful, but disorienting and spooky as well-- I keep thinking I'm in one of those science fiction alternate dimension stories.
3
Four thoughts:
1. Bernie Sanders
2. the film Avatar
3. Frodo Baggins, the ring bearer (who might consider Sanders a friend-soulmate).
4. Fellow voters, let's remember that we have work to do next Nov. 2016: Presidential and U.S. Congressional elections.
12-26-15@12:34 a.m. e.s.t.
1. Bernie Sanders
2. the film Avatar
3. Frodo Baggins, the ring bearer (who might consider Sanders a friend-soulmate).
4. Fellow voters, let's remember that we have work to do next Nov. 2016: Presidential and U.S. Congressional elections.
12-26-15@12:34 a.m. e.s.t.
9
Gee... I wonder where Oklahoma Senator James "Jim" Mountain Inhofe will be going this winter to make the snowballs that he loves to disprove the existence of global climate changes?
11
How will this affect the crops? No blossoms, no apples. Cold weather will come sooner or later and kill most plants that are thinking of fruiting.
9
And what about the bees this spring, when there are no flowers because they already bloomed in December?
Is the byline "Nicholas St. Fleur," as in St. Nicholas and Fleur (French word for flower), a pseudonym for our wacky weather? Remarkably, the writing was not florid, but scientific and fact-driven. That said, on Christmas Eve the hosts and guests at a party migrated to the terrace for dinner. It was delightful to be outdoors, with a profusion of flowers, in the middle of December although Iam hardly gladdened by what awaits us this spring as a consequence. In general, however, I find this unusually mild weather a bit disorienting because, in winter, the sun is not strong and there remains, still, the dampness of winter.
2
After a very mild and dry spring and the hottest summer on record, the Pacific Northwest is getting heavy rain, and in the Cascade Mountains, heavy snow. 251 inches (21 feet) of snow has fallen at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood since the beginning of November. (Not a record but very welcome.) Perhaps a meteorologist could comment on whether climate change will mean the Northwest will receive the El Nino rainfall that previously fell in Northern California.
3
"Hello, Vivaldi? We'd like a Fifth Season, please... You're in? Great! Yes, "Sprinter" is perfect."
21
that's a good one.. my galanthus was late this year,, but it looks to be categorically on time for the coming year... the viburnum is native to alaska, it means wayfaring or by foot .
I have Instagram and uploaded to it two pictures taken just a few days ago, both in Newport RI. I will try to get them to you by an alternate means, as the feature embedded in Nicolas St. Fleur's column does not seem to work for me.
Another reader mentioned having the very same difficulty.
Another reader mentioned having the very same difficulty.
Also, to the NYT, what of those of us who'd like to participate but don't have Instagram, Facebook, etc., just email accounts? Any ideas?
12-25-15@7:55 p.m. e.s.t.
12-25-15@7:55 p.m. e.s.t.
3
Amazingly, I have a couple of fresh buds on my iris. I'm concerned there will be fewer blooms next summer.
1
There's another important scientific and economic angle to this story. The warmer temperatures this month have produced a widespread flare-up of certain allergic reactions, according to my ophthalmologist who is treating my wife for tiny cysts in both eyes. He recently prescribed Tobradex ointment, an outrageously high-priced drug that we simply could not afford.
7
You and your wife have my empathy. Is there a generic she can take?
12-25-15@2:33 p.m. e.s.t.
12-25-15@2:33 p.m. e.s.t.
1
A generic is not available.
1
Oh, gosh. I am really, I mean REALLY sorry. : (
12-25-15@7:58 p.m. e.s.t.
12-25-15@7:58 p.m. e.s.t.
1
On Christmas Eve? About flowers?
Written by Nicholas St. Fleur?
Come on!
(Nice article, though.)
Written by Nicholas St. Fleur?
Come on!
(Nice article, though.)
8
St. Fleur! You're on the flowers in December piece! Get out there!
2
Our food supply is in peril with these climate fluctuations. Farmers will have a difficult time in the future with all these crazy regional disruptions. Folks enjoying the unusual climate are not focusing on the serious implications we will be facing in our climate change future. All these unusual events are wake up calls loud and clear.
23
Here in lovely Bordentown, NJ on the lower Delaware, the Post Office has a New Deal mural.
The snowy winter scene depicted is of the children sledding and skating on Crosswicks Creek, a small Delaware tributary.
Young children will soon ask: what were those kids doing?
When we were kids, Catfish pond would freeze before Christmas and sometimes Tarrytown Lake would too. Pond hockey? Gone. Only dank rinks now.
Playing snow tracking games in the woods? Is there an app for that?
The snowy winter scene depicted is of the children sledding and skating on Crosswicks Creek, a small Delaware tributary.
Young children will soon ask: what were those kids doing?
When we were kids, Catfish pond would freeze before Christmas and sometimes Tarrytown Lake would too. Pond hockey? Gone. Only dank rinks now.
Playing snow tracking games in the woods? Is there an app for that?
8
Would like to have sent a photo of my Ohio honeysuckle in bloom, but couldn't get the upload to work. Strange times we are living in.
1
Oh no.
A couple years ago in the midwest, there was an unseasonably warm stretch in March, which tricked all the apple and cherry trees into blossoming. The return of seasonable temperatures froze the blossoms and nearly completely wiped out the apple and cherry harvests for the year. Hopefully fruit trees will be okay; farmers don't need another poor harvest.
A couple years ago in the midwest, there was an unseasonably warm stretch in March, which tricked all the apple and cherry trees into blossoming. The return of seasonable temperatures froze the blossoms and nearly completely wiped out the apple and cherry harvests for the year. Hopefully fruit trees will be okay; farmers don't need another poor harvest.
14
Global warming creates increasingly greater climate variability, at least in part due to the increasing amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere. England was experiencing unseasonably early snow only a few weeks ago. Now it is going through an unusually warm Xmas with extensive flooding. Plants tend to flower prolifically when they are stressed - it is nature's last ditch attempt to preserve life. In the longer term we will need to switch to widescale food production under cover, in order to be able to control climate variability better. But such forms of food production inevitably affect nutritional quality. (It is no coincidence that wild plants contain far higher levels of antioxidants than their domesticated counterparts.) Another key point: we are part of nature, not separate from it, no matter how we try to wall ourselves off from it. When nature is stressed, people become stressed too. You only have to look at political events worldwide. The climate isn't going to stabilise in the foreseeable future. We need to ask ourselves how we can best adapt. In a way that isn't yet commonly acknowledged, we are intimately connected to the environmental effects in our immediate vicinity. When we work in harmony with nature, nature tries to work in harmony with us. We must move away from the notion of controlling nature - which we will never be able to do (ever tried stopping an earthquake or volcanic explosion?) - and commit to working in a way that benefits nature, and us.
31
Hopefully, the trend will continue long term. The plants will eventually adapt and so will we.
1
Wishful thinking. On the other hand, global warming may take us to the calamity right-wing supporters of Armageddon are awaiting.
22
Unfortunately, our major crops aren't terribly adaptable. The planet can survive pretty much any level of warming, but as for individual species, extinction is standard operating procedure for Mother Nature.
1
They are not awaiting Armageddon, they are fervently hoping for it, praying for it, in every thought and act bringing it nearer. Like Jiminy Cricket's song, If You Wish Upon an Asteroid, remember?
At Sailors' Snug Harbor on Staten Island I saw Helleborus and flowering quince blooming. Several peonies were about to bloom and some magnolias and dogwoods had enlarge buds that were starting to unfurl.
2
Peonies shouldn't be blooming until June, that is very unsettling!
10
Have a beatiful iris in full bloom in my yard in DC. Also have a photo but no instagram account. Why was that the only way to upload? (Photo of apple tree budding too!)
4
In folklore, disrupted nature-- droughts or floods, no winter or endless winter, flowers blooming at the wrong time-- is a sign of evil, a portent of doom. And so it is for us. We have to change our ways, profoundly, immediately. We need to tax carbon. We need to transform our economy from being a massive engine for over-consumption to being one that simply fills actual needs. Woe to the people who do not hear the cries of the December-blooming viburnum. For the barren earth will not feed them.
33
You speak of prophesy through folklore, and unquestionably to any sane person. Your last two sentences especially are quite simply poetic and statements of the ultimate nightmare.
What scares me, literally to death, is while even some Republican voters may now believe you, those in Congress and those running for the next Presidential and U.S. Congressional tickets don't and won't. Unless we can find a way to work around them or enough of us vote them out, next year: woe to all of us; to every earthling left: kingdom, phylum, species, etc.
12-26-15@12:27 a.m. e.s.t.
What scares me, literally to death, is while even some Republican voters may now believe you, those in Congress and those running for the next Presidential and U.S. Congressional tickets don't and won't. Unless we can find a way to work around them or enough of us vote them out, next year: woe to all of us; to every earthling left: kingdom, phylum, species, etc.
12-26-15@12:27 a.m. e.s.t.
6
Perhaps Senator James Inhofe will get a clue when a gigantic cell of category 5 tornadoes levels Oklahoma. Sadly he probably won't because he is so beholden to his fossil fuel masters.
Does anyone know if this un-seasonal warm weather will do damage to the pple crops?
1
I find the author's name quite appropriate for today. Nicholas St. Fleur -- Saint Nicholas Flower? ;-) Merry Christmas.
4
Poor James Inhofe; 'guess he won't be bringing any snowballs onto the senate floor... .
18
Relax, you all. Back in 1981 my husband was jogging on Christmas day in t shirt and shorts here in Michigan. This year the grass down by our lake a new spring green. Last year not so good. 3 years ago temp on February 5 above zero. Back in 1977 in December the lake was frozen over and kids were skating on the ice on December 6th. I am not denying climate change and am doing my best to prolong it. A more simple life style so to speak. Still, i do know 10,000 years ago our entire state was under a half mile of thick ICE. Nothing existed in this part of the world. I do my best to live a better life style, but i have to admit i would not mind seeing a tiny palm tree poking up in my yard. This year so far, weather mild, next year, at this time, a winter to make any gods that may exist turn into snowman. I know i am wrong, but I will take that budding palm tree in my yard any winter, any year to come along. Florida can drown.
3
Well, at least you concede that you're wrong. "Florida can drown"?
Regardless of how you meant that, some of us have friends and family Florida.
12-25-15@8:08 p.m. e.s.t.
Regardless of how you meant that, some of us have friends and family Florida.
12-25-15@8:08 p.m. e.s.t.
2
Typical El Nino effect.
4
In Southern California August continued until November, and November decided to reming the people what seasons felt like, and without much fanfare exhibited a week from each season. Now, evidently calendar and the seasons are in the same page. And we had soaking kind of rain, and the weather reporters said, "Don't you swim in the ocean; all bacteria washed into it." But it was 42 degrees in the morning, and thankfully people had already cancelled the the beach trip for the weekend!
3
Millions of measured data points across the globe and of different parameters.. Thousands of independent scientific studies. And the paranoid GOP still believes global warming is hoax perpetrated by scientists and the left. Sadly, this really is the party of stupid. And even more sadly, all of humanity shares the price for their ignorance.
31
We humans are in the middle of a global, boiling frog experiment conducted on ourselves. We can't jump out of the pan but we refuse to take the steps necessary to turn down the heat. I don't see this ending well.
17
"Inuit Elders have said that the Sun has changed. It's rising sooner, rising higher and setting later, in different positions. These people have also seen the direction of the prevailing wind changing. ... We need some honest answers and some real solutions."
Do you think the Inuit elders are correct?
Do you think the Inuit elders are correct?
2
I do believe that the Inuit elders are very accurate about what they are saying. Their knowledge is based on empirical observation over centuries of outdoors living. They are probably as accurate as any scientific research on the Arctic about their assertions. I have seen a dramatic change in the cloud formations and colors in the skies over the Great Lakes, the changes are visible and tangible.
1
So many of the comments here speak of this warm weather as if this is the result of man made climate change when in fact it has nothing to do with it. The warm weather is due to El Nino and the opposite of the polar vortex that we saw last year in which things became much colder than usual. Just the fact that its 70 degrees, at least 30 degrees warmer than usual, should tell any thinking person that this is not the result of climate change.
5
You do know what drives El Nino is ocean warming, right? RIGHT?
Isnt the derivative question that you are not asking: What caused the Pacific ocean water of the El Nino effect to be so much warmer than the average El Nino? If one said that was casued by global warming, then the El Nino effects on the East Coast would likewise be drived from global warming. Its not that complicated.
This is a good article, and thank you. A follow-up might address potential impact on the relationship between flowering plants and insects. Pollinator life cycles evolved to coordinate with bloom times, some very fine-tuned. While flowers may bloom again in spring, if they don't or if their spring bloom time has been thrown off schedule, this timing could be undone.....
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Bees/bees.php
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/10166/20141110/bees-flowers-out-...
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Bees/bees.php
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/10166/20141110/bees-flowers-out-...
4
Could the unusual surplus of hot air have anything to do with the current election campaign?
16
Our viburnum "Dawn", too, zone 6b. We cut and used it in a table arrangement of oakleaf hydrangea leaves, eleagnus angustifolia, box, holly, leyland cypress, orange pyracantha berries, ilex verticillata and witch hazel blooms.
"It's interesting that in the warmest year ever, the red states whose citizens largely deny climate change, are taking most of the beating."
Not true at all -- not even close. Out here in CA -- about as "blue" a state as you can get -- we're taking quite a beating. It's been very cold so far this winter (and rainy). The forecast for this Saturday is for a low of 37.
Not true at all -- not even close. Out here in CA -- about as "blue" a state as you can get -- we're taking quite a beating. It's been very cold so far this winter (and rainy). The forecast for this Saturday is for a low of 37.
4
I don't think the people in Tornado Alley are too sympathetic toward California's "beating".
"My quince bush started blooming in December/January a few years ago when we started to have warm stretches..."
Reminds me of when I lived in Boston in the early 1970s. We went skiing one January weekend and it ended up so warm that we came home early and played tennis instead. Years later (2011?), I attended the Head of the Charles regatta in October and it was snowing! You never know, I guess -- enjoy it while you can!
Reminds me of when I lived in Boston in the early 1970s. We went skiing one January weekend and it ended up so warm that we came home early and played tennis instead. Years later (2011?), I attended the Head of the Charles regatta in October and it was snowing! You never know, I guess -- enjoy it while you can!
2
If only my Viburnum Bodnantense 'Dawn' were blooming. If only the NY Times had perfected Smell-a-Vision after John Waters' pioneering work.
2
Posted on Facebook two weeks ago -
Q: What's wrong with this picture?
A: It's December 12th and the stupid petunias are blooming. It's so warm we ate lunch on our deck today.
I don't use Instagram, but my photo showed two flowerpots with very healthy petunias. I can email the photo if you like.
Q: What's wrong with this picture?
A: It's December 12th and the stupid petunias are blooming. It's so warm we ate lunch on our deck today.
I don't use Instagram, but my photo showed two flowerpots with very healthy petunias. I can email the photo if you like.
Our forsythia has some flowers already.
4
Freezing December in AZ. Several hard freezes and running 10 degrees below normal.
9
Only in far Southwestern Arizona, and the anomaly is up to 5F on average over the last 30 days.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/tanal/temp_analyses.php.
But it's true that all of the incredible warmth elsewhere is not solely due to climate change. It certainly adds a few degrees, but El Nino and the Arctic Oscillation are also playing a part. It been unusually cold in greenland and NE canada because the arctic air can't get south like it usually does.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/rnl/sfctmpmer_30b.rnl.html
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/tanal/temp_analyses.php.
But it's true that all of the incredible warmth elsewhere is not solely due to climate change. It certainly adds a few degrees, but El Nino and the Arctic Oscillation are also playing a part. It been unusually cold in greenland and NE canada because the arctic air can't get south like it usually does.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/rnl/sfctmpmer_30b.rnl.html
1
We New Hampshire would gladly trade our 64% on this Christmas Day for your 10 degrees below in Arizona.
3
The East has had exceptionally cold winters lately, while we here in CA have had the opposite. Looks like it's reversed this year. My son just returned from Pittsburgh, where he said it was in the 50's. We just walked 10 blocks to dinner here in San Francisco, and practically froze. For weeks, it's been extremely cold -- no snow or ice, but very cold for SF.
Enjoy your warm weather back East.
Enjoy your warm weather back East.
22
Christmas eve here was 65F, with not a cloud in the sky. Ran my 6-mile loop in shorts and t-shirt.
2
Actually, I was born and raised in Sunnyvale and Carmel. It used to be cold on those winter mornings when I'd walk to school. Rarely any snow, but chilling rain. Fog. Lotsa fruit trees and farms (my family farm is now covered with multimillion dollar houses -- at least that's what they sell for now).
It isn't the same place.
Believe me.
It isn't the same place.
Believe me.
2
This abnormal warm weather has caused more than the trees and shrubs to break dormancy. I now have an unwelcome off season infestation of the eastern brown stinkbugs ... usually I battle them in March. Not this year.
Can't step on them. Cats won't catch them. Please, let it get cold!
Can't step on them. Cats won't catch them. Please, let it get cold!
12
Same here. I saw my first Christmas Eve stink bug in the house yesterday. Perhaps it's a new holiday tradition.
1
We finally got some snow here in western Wisconsin and it looks like the temps will be below freezing all week. Up til now it has been rain and temps in the thirties. I walked along the creek last week and the moss on the rocks was green and lush.
4
Several years ago, I predicted there would be a "New Jersey Citrus Growers Association" sooner than later. Doesn't seem so far-fetched after all.
10
Inuit Elders have said that the Sun has changed. It's rising sooner, rising higher and setting later, in different positions. These people have also seen the direction of the prevailing wind changing. Regardless of how much 'carbon tax' money the World's Governments might throw at this, and they won't, these changes are here and it's changing our weather. We need some honest answers and some real solutions.
14
Huh? Just because "Inuit Elders" say it does not make it so. The sun is rising and setting exactly as it has for eons (except in very tiny amounts, measurable only with scientific instruments). The Earth's wobble on its axis has not changed, nor has its orbit about the sun.
The prevailing winds might be changing, but that first lot is pure nonsense. Let's stick to scientific evidence and lay aside anecdotal inanities.
The prevailing winds might be changing, but that first lot is pure nonsense. Let's stick to scientific evidence and lay aside anecdotal inanities.
7
Discouraging to see that this has 14 recommends.
This information came from numerous Inuit, not just one person. They felt it was important enough to send to NASA. I first heard of this from Canada's CBC News Network. You're insisting that this is 'nonsense', pure no less. Do you have information to confirm your opinion? I have spent many hours researching these claims and have found nothing but supporting evidence from several sources, all scientists with PhD's in their field of expertise. Do you know something they don't?
Much to my dismay the hyacinth is in bloom, as is my star magnolia. The tulips are pushing through...makes me wonder the havoc all this early blooming is going to cause on the very fragile ecosystems these blooms support.
19
Cherry trees were in full bloom here in Somerville, Massachusetts on Christmas Eve.
14
The time is not to sit on your hands and fret about the changes. The changes are real and we caused them. We can and need to mitigate the damaging consequences. Now is the time to reduce the activities that produce harmful emissions. Reduce. It's our duty.
33
Would you kindly share with us how you plan to re-route El Nino? And wouldn't that in itself be drastically interfering with nature?
In Ventura County my apple trees were blooming in September! The blooms matured into tiny apples, but they did not hold! I would have thought not!
5
Every time I talk to someone about the weather, which is virtually everyone I have met this week, the first word that comes out of their mouth is "scary". It is scary, what have we done to our planet, our home? What are we leaving our children?
42
65 degrees up here in Vermont today. No snow on the ground. Streams are roaring as if it is spring. Great for a long hike in the woods. Bears and other hibernating animals must be vastly confused. I am not confused, just scared of what we have done and what is to come.
79
A lot of dogwoods in full bloom along the interstate in the mid south I noticed a billboard for Dog wood festival sometime in April ,oh well.Ive seen it go into spring in the Rocky MTNS in the middle of winter ,yet not last more than a few weeks enough to bud trees ect., not uncommon.also seen 2 feet of snow in June destroy fully leafed forests by falling all the Aspen trees.
6
Tis the season of El Nino and this particular one is deeply embedded in the warming seas off California. That's a truth we cannot debate. Although many will exclaim it's all about climate change, they'd only be half-right. Our ever-changing climate certainly does have it's fits and starts. Christmas blooms in NYC are not an everyday experience, nor was last year's record making snow pack. Yes, human behavior does hold sway over climate, but we are not super heroes who can bend weather with our bare hands. This year, the West Coast is darn-right cold. San Francisco is in the middle of a cold snap, yet the Pacific Ocean is a few degrees warmer. As a young member of the 4-H Club and a budding garden expert, I was taught that we can do nearly anything, but change the weather. So, I'm going to play the cards I was dealt and setup my garden accordingly, and wish ever reader a Merry and a Happy . . .
7
Remember the ozone hole? In your theory that was not caused by - and solved by - man's activity. It's clearly ridiculous to look at the impact of billions of humans over many decades changing the environment and conclude that it can have no affect. Whoever at 4-H gave you that notion - likely also decades ago - was clearly not qualified to comment on the science of climate change. He merely made a simple passing comment, sorta akin to "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" or "a broken clock is still right twice a day". Go back and study what happened to Easter Island.
16
Most of California is warmer than normal for December:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/anomimage.pl?cal1mTvdep.gif
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/anomimage.pl?cal1mTvdep.gif
2
Actually we have been influencing the weather and eventually the climate with our grimy hands. For those of us not in California's mild climes, our gardening is being affected, for the warmer and longer. $-H needs to get current (how long ago was your experience?
4
Someone please send one of these blossoms to James Inhofe.
48
Let's not forget the smug, full time hypocrite, Cruz.
The party of fear and loathing and their supporters needs to
be called out at every opportunity everywhere they open their
perfidious mouths.
The party of fear and loathing and their supporters needs to
be called out at every opportunity everywhere they open their
perfidious mouths.
45
If tornados haven't wrecked them I'm sure that Inhofe can observe them in his back yard. They'll be ignored, of course.
3
This is only a beginning of the next several hundred years of human induced climate change.
The problem is that trees bloom - and then a cold snap will hit and the trees, ultimately will not be able to reproduce in their proper "season"
Sea levels will rise.
Rain will fall where it is not needed and not fall where it is needed to grow the crops that feed and serve us.
But one party pretends this is all a "hoax" and wants to continue to burn more and more fossil fuels.
This isn't a Hollywood movie with a happy ending - it is a planet that needs some respect and supervision by the humans that have come to dominate it.
The problem is that trees bloom - and then a cold snap will hit and the trees, ultimately will not be able to reproduce in their proper "season"
Sea levels will rise.
Rain will fall where it is not needed and not fall where it is needed to grow the crops that feed and serve us.
But one party pretends this is all a "hoax" and wants to continue to burn more and more fossil fuels.
This isn't a Hollywood movie with a happy ending - it is a planet that needs some respect and supervision by the humans that have come to dominate it.
121
you're right - and I'm sad and sorry that we broke the climate.
4
When climate science was introduced, there was a clear distinction between climate and weather. Climate was long range. Weather included most short-term seasonal variations. Then, we were told that weather extremes were a product of climate change. Most notably, the hurricane season in the Western Hemisphere was monitored and extreme storms or large numbers of storms were attributed to warming. Now, seasonal variances, hot and cold, have frequently been attributed to warming. We seem to be approaching the point where any significant departure from seasonal averages is attributable to climate change rather than normal weather variation. I am not aware of any science behind this latest extension of the perceived effects of warming. It would be helpful if the scientific community explained their present view on what is a weather variation and what is a product of climate change.
7
Weather represents the short term behaviour of the system and climate is the long term behaviour. The overall long term direction influences the short term direction in a general nonspecific manner. Thus we can say that certain events will be more extreme in the short term when there is a long term trend towards things heating up (warming). If things were getting cooler in the long term, then there would be less movement in the short term. I don't know of any scientist who would call these short term changes as climate, but they can say it is influenced by the long term climate trend of warming.
12
There is a distinction between weather and climate although accumulating trends in weather can be a manifestation of climate change and AGW. The current El Nino, which is due to latent effects of Pacific Ocean warming is another perturbation which is driving the polar vortex north which is responsible for our current warm spell in the northeast. Note that the article did not mention global warming. However, other articles have noted (which you can also do) that seasons are progressively getting warmer in the US, growing seasons are longer and the zones are moving northward (see any seed catalog), maple syrup runs are being shortened (and the trees can't move north fast enough) and a host of other easily observable effects.
2
Someone should throw a bouquet of unseasonable December flower at Sen. James Inhofe when he returns to his office after the holidays.
"Catch this."
"Catch this."
92
He might yet have a February snowball, to once again "prove" that things haven't gotten bad enough for him to notice, or care.
5
He wouldn't care in the least
1
If this type of warm fall and winter keeps up we won't have apples or maple syrup, as fruit trees, maples, and others, need to become dormant through the winter. I think this warm weather is a serious harbinger of what is to come, but I hope I am wrong. And I am also sad that we won't have a white Christmas.
I wish I had been born decades earlier and had left this earth before global warming arrived.....
I wish I had been born decades earlier and had left this earth before global warming arrived.....
44
Usually I consider snow the enemy since I've had painful falls on black ice, but right now, I'd be relieved to see even one flake. Re: your last sentence, you're not alone in that thought.....
12-26-15@12:11 a.m. e.s.t.
12-26-15@12:11 a.m. e.s.t.
2
All atrocities considered, denying climate change has to be the biggest one for the GOP. We need more winters like this to put this nonsense political fight over something with such overwhelming scientific evidence behind us. And finally be able to do something to stop it.
43
Don't count on it. Oklahoma Senator has his personal issue snowball in his office refrigerator's freezer. He will prove you to be wrong! Again!
2
I'd say be careful what you wish for, but, I think it's coming anyway.
12-26-15@12:06 a.m. e.s.t.
12-26-15@12:06 a.m. e.s.t.
2
Up here in Saratoga Springs you can see what looks like the first signs of spring, a few of the plants around the hotel I work at seem confused, like their deciding to come back to life, green replacing brown. The grass is very green in some places.
If we had sun today I think it would have gotten into the 70s, it was in the mid the high sixties. Right now at 8:30 pm its very nice out, the weather is calm with whisky clouds and the moon is pretty. I walked around my street in a t-shirt, it feels like late March.
If we had sun today I think it would have gotten into the 70s, it was in the mid the high sixties. Right now at 8:30 pm its very nice out, the weather is calm with whisky clouds and the moon is pretty. I walked around my street in a t-shirt, it feels like late March.
14
I was in Saratoga Springs for a convention in early November, and it was warm enough that people could walk around without coats on. There were dandelions blooming in the parking lot outside the convention center. Only on Nov. 6th did a cold front finally come through, plunging the temperature from upper 50s-low 60s to the 40s.
It's interesting that in the warmest year ever, the red states whose citizens largely deny climate change, are taking most of the beating. Blizzards and tornados, deaths and destroyed houses, while we in the midwest and east just save on our heating bills.
60
Reminds me of Miami's Republican officials, denying climate change as they stand ankle-deep in seawater on city streets. The GOP mindset is impervious not only to reason, but to reality itself.
48
Yeah, my landlord is praising the weather gods for smiling on him.
1
Message from Mother Nature?
5
There are Magnolia trees in our park that bloom early spring. Yet, there were blooms again in late fall. So it seems from east coast to west coast this is an anomaly. Call it what you will, however I don't think we can deny that weather patterns are changing. One could only wonder - what's next?
28
The snapdragons at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are prolifically blooming. The roses are too—and they've not stopped blooming since June. The last time I was there, a couple of weeks ago, the magnolias were starting to bloom as well.
The roses around the civic plaza in front of the Brooklyn State Supreme Court are also, while not prolific, also giving us the lush colors of summer in the otherwise drab month of December.
As a human, I can adapt to the sudden changes in temperature, but the plants are not as adaptable. Those plants which expend energy on blooming and putting forth leaves will find their stems freezing when the weather turns colder. So too the insects I see: the moths and bees and other insects that have appeared in this weather. They will likely perish, in their millions, with these violent swings in temperature. All in all, not a good thing for the ecosphere, of which we humans are a very minor part.
The roses around the civic plaza in front of the Brooklyn State Supreme Court are also, while not prolific, also giving us the lush colors of summer in the otherwise drab month of December.
As a human, I can adapt to the sudden changes in temperature, but the plants are not as adaptable. Those plants which expend energy on blooming and putting forth leaves will find their stems freezing when the weather turns colder. So too the insects I see: the moths and bees and other insects that have appeared in this weather. They will likely perish, in their millions, with these violent swings in temperature. All in all, not a good thing for the ecosphere, of which we humans are a very minor part.
74
How can humans be "a very minor part" of an ecosphere they themselves are destroying singlehandedly?
Ok. This article + you + someone else's mention of peonies confirm what I feared when I saw a tree in bloom yesterday. I love seeing things in bloom as much as the next person--when they're supposed to bloom--not like this.
I'm very, very, very worried.
12-25-15@7:04 p.m. e.s.t.
I'm very, very, very worried.
12-25-15@7:04 p.m. e.s.t.
2
I'm a bit less optimistic that 'all is well' in the botanic world with these abnormally high temperatures. Plants that are pushing growth and flowers might suffer should a (normal) deep freeze come into play. And there are potential disastrous results to fruit and nut trees should flowers fail to cycle through their fruiting stage due to freezing. The consequences of these climate shifts are much more serious than the pleasure of early sweet aromas.
67
yes, and the ignorance of these shifts is just as smothering....
2
I've been documenting the blooming happening around The Bronx and Randall's Island and I am in utter awe at the variety of species in bloom in December.
Whenever there's a warm spell during winter in December or January, I've seen the occasional rosebush push out a few buds and blossom but never like this.
Yes, this is a product of El Niño but it appears to be exacerbated by climate change.
Climate change is real. There's no denying that and if you want further proof, it's right here before our eyes. Stop denying climate change folks, and stop and smell the December roses.
Whenever there's a warm spell during winter in December or January, I've seen the occasional rosebush push out a few buds and blossom but never like this.
Yes, this is a product of El Niño but it appears to be exacerbated by climate change.
Climate change is real. There's no denying that and if you want further proof, it's right here before our eyes. Stop denying climate change folks, and stop and smell the December roses.
83
Please let me and anyone else know where to find what you see, where you post it, whether online here, or a gallery, wherever. I want to know what you've observed.
Thank you.
12-26-15@12:04 a.m. e.s.t.
Thank you.
12-26-15@12:04 a.m. e.s.t.
1
My quince bush started blooming in December/January a few years ago when we started to have warm stretches - a week or so of nights above freezing - in December. Normally the quince is one of the first spring bloomers. The quince bush was quite mature when I bought the house in 1988 and totally a spring bloomer for nearly my first two decades there. It is situated about a half mile south of I-287, 3 miles west of the Tappan Zee.
19
correction: EAST of the Tappan Zee
1