7,000 Temperature Records Broken in March...

[MindMover]

For most of the country spring has sprung earlier this year, but is this anything more than a single warm year? It seems that it is. During the past several decades, with the exception of the Southeast, spring weather has, indeed, been arriving earlier.

In the interactive above, 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 in recent years (based on the 1981-2010 average).

Nationwide, the date of “first leaf” has clearly shifted — arriving roughly three days earlier now on March 17th (1981-2010 average) from March 20th (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. How much will an earlier spring disrupt the intricate natural balance between the tens of thousands of species that depend on each other for food, reproduction and ultimately, survival? No one really knows.

The data behind 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 U.S. estimate as a whole, we took the average change across 716 weather stations spread across the lower 48 states.

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/State-by-State-Look-at-How-Early-Spring-Has-Arrived/

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And Spring has just arrived.....

[progressoid]

1. Pffft. It's just a cycle.

That's what I keep hearing.

k/r

[nilram]

2. Exactly... Like the rise and fall of your breath. Or of civilizations.

Natural causes.

[Redneck Democrat]

3. Perfectly normal variations, nothing to worry about!

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, MindMover.

[Doctor_J]

5. But it has nothing to do with our gluttonous carbon consumption

that's what Fox is telling their zombies this year. Last year we had a couple snow storms and the idiots were told that was proof that GW is a hoax. Is their stupidity considered self-inflicted, or should we not blame them?

[MindMover]

6. If you do not think past the flavor of ice cream you like.....

then you get people who vote for Bush, not once, not twice, but three times and then you come to something more than stupidity......it is called zombiesm.....who follow any mantra at any cost, even there own.....and in most examples over the past 6 presidential cycles, that cost/burden has been placed squarely on the shoulders of the 99ers.....

It is much easier to believe in the propaganda koolaid mixture du jour than it is to actually think past the end of your dick.....or the next flavor of ice cream you are gonna try.....