Plants Blooming Early From Unseasonably Warm Weather

February 1, 2012 10:18 AM

(credit: CBS 2)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The calendar may say February, but it doesn’t feel like it. Temperatures are expected to hit 60 degrees today and while that’s good for us, it may not bode well for early blooming plants.

On this date last year, the Tri-state area was covered with a quarter of an inch of ice and temperatures were in the 20s. But lately we’ve experiencing 50 and 60 degree temperatures and most people aren’t complaining.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS’ Steve Sandberg reports

“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.”

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Last year, Staten Island Chuck predicted a shorter winter. Chuck made headlines in 2009 after he bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Last year, Bloomberg wore heavy gloves when as a precaution.

Plants Blooming Early From Unseasonably Warm Weather

John Malverne

What is Bloomberg doing with a ground hog ritual? Is there nothing that big city people won’t steal from flyover country?
Country girl

Well, I don’t know a lot of what you guys are talking about…but I remember as a young child in Wisconsin watching my parents drive past snow drifts taller than my dad. I remember watching my mom walk through snow up to her waist to feed her horses. I remember waiting for the bus in bone chilling cold. That was 25 plus years ago. My kids have only once seen more than 18 inches of snow…and that was the year before last during the big December snowstorm. They have never seen snow up to mommas waist, they have known about a total of one months worth of days where it was truly very, very cold. They have seen one November deer hunting season where there was snow on the ground for opening day. You used to count on the cold and the snow. Now you get rain and fog. Call me crazy, but I live in the country and as everyyear that passes since I have been a child…I have noticed these small differences, that add up over the years. Perhaps being city raised…those small things aren’t as noticeable. I remember playing king of the mountain with 20 foot snow piles on the school yard. My kids have seen a snow pile that big once. The biggest they’ve played on in school is about 6 feet tall. red wing blackbirds are coming back earlier and earlier every year. The “spring peepers” little frogs are singing earlier every year. The algea on the lake is coming in sooner every year. The river used to have big ice floes in the spring when the ice broke…now it barely freezes over. I may not be a part of your arguements, but I live it everyday, every year.

glenp

so your obserrvation is that we are returning to huge snowstorms eh?

stfu

my observation is that you are an idiot

Country girl

Well, that’s fine. You can call me an idiot (if that comment was for me!) and that is ok. I know what I see. I know what I observe. that is all. You don’t have to believe or agree. I’m not out to change anyone. We’ll all find out one way or another who is really the idiot anyway…I give it a few years, and we’ll know the real truth. Maybe I am wrong. I would LOVE to be wrong. Sadly though, I don’t think I will be proven to be nearly as idiotic or wrong as some may think. We shall see, won’t we?

Country girl

Ummm….no. had you read the post you would clearly see there USED to be snow..and now there isn’t. I believe the post clarified that quite well.

Jerry Frey

Any one who thinks the climate is not changing, is unaware of the evidence, even though winter has yet to appear in most of the country.

Decide for yourself.

http://napoleonlive.info/did-you-know/facts-about-climate-change-2/#

glenp

yes for the BETTER which you buttcheeses can’t stand
Thejoker

You do realize that in other parts of the world they are seeing record lows, and worldwide average temperatures are steadily declining, right? Of course you don’t because you are a moron.

thesmoker

Care to cite that?
Oh thats right, you are just making this up on the spot

the midnight toker

I’d like to see him cite that as well. The overall temperature has risen 1.33 degrees overall, in the last century. That is according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. The chart can be found here. http://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/how-much-has-global-temperature-risen-last-100-years. btw loved the steve miller u guys got going on. lol.

Jeremy P. Carlo

Actually, no, that is not true at all. While both record lows and record highs are being set, there has been a consistent trend over the last 2-3 decades in which the number of record highs has exceeded the number of record lows; currently the discrepancy is about 2:1 (in other words, 2 record high temperatures are broken every time 1 record low is broken).

That is exactly what we would expect if the earth is indeed getting warmer. You know, just like all those scientists have been saying all along.

Source and a nice graphic illustrating the trend:

http://www2.ucar.edu/news/1036/record-high-temperatures-far-outpace-record-lows-across-us

And yes, the earth is in fact getting warmer, not cooler like you implied. 0.48 C above the long-term average, to be exact:
http://snrclimatecorner.blogspot.com/2012/01/global-temperature-anomalies-december.html

Joe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Richard

Better check the rest of the global evidence before you make a generalized statement about climate change. Currently the Globe as a whole is running -0.5C below normal. That is according to official NASA data. Just about the only place on Earth with a warm winter has been the USA and Canada. The all-time February record high in New York is a toasty 75Fso not even close today…

vendicar decarian

Currently Richard is lying.

“Currently the Globe as a whole is running -0.5C below normal” – Richard

Global temperatures for January are not yet available, but for Dec of 2011 they are, and the anomoly is 0.48′C positive. Pretty much the same as it averages for the entire year 2011.

So why does Richard feel a need to tell lies?

glenp

GORDON!!!

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< that's YOUR 4 inches not 6-7
glenp

EAST ANGLIA LIBERAL WARMISTS finally reveal their hypothesis is wrong and warming ceased in 1997!!!!

Jeremy P. Carlo

Global temperatures have continued to increase since 1998.

Source: http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-stopped-in-1998-intermediate.htm

glenp

anyone read about teh ALL TIME RECORD COLD TEMPS in Alaska?

AConservativeScientist

Yes, its called climate change. All time record anything should not be happening on a yearly basis

Aquinasthegoat

It’s called climate change because the global warming predictions were consistently wrong. So like all good religious movements do when their prophets are wrong, they tried to rewrite history. The climate has always changed., It’s a disingenuous term, kind of like saying ‘water flowing’ or ‘wind blowing’. They always have and always will.
UYeahU

Are not all time records (for particular locations) broken somewhere on earth nearly every year? Heat, cold, rainfall, snowfall? Climate is cyclical with El Nino and La Nina, solar minimums and maximums, etc. If records are being broken year upon year in the same locations that would certainly be a cause for alarm.

In the 1970′s we were supposedly on the brink of another ice age, Then in the 1990′s it was “global warming”. I recently saw an article predicting that we are now heading into a mini Ice age and there has been no warming for 15 years. So we have to have another euphemism for the weather.

“Climate change” is a great way to redistribute wealth by greedy governments with schemes like “carbon credits”. Climates are always changing, it has been both much colder and much warmer on earth then it has been in the last few hundred years we have kept accurate temperature records. Here is a boogeyman that will never go away, no matter what the weather or climate.

glenp

OOOOOH!!! so NO ONE IS COMPLAINING!! I thought WARMING is the DEATH of humanity but everyone is enjoying it (less the bitter, angry global warmists- even the polar bears are having too many babies!)

Michael H.

polar bears having too many cubs is a bad thing. less arctic ice means less hunting grounds means less food available means more polar bear cubs starve to death.

it’s not that difficult to understand.

Sonny Crockett

It’s cyclical people. It’s a balance. If it’s warm here it’s cold somewhere else. Look at Alaska. Coldest winter on record. Cut the global warming crap. The planet hasn’t warmed since 1997. People should embrace warming. Cooling will affect everyone in the like’s modern man has never seen. Delusional liberal morons continue with their drivel, junk science and unfounded propaganda.

Michael Collins

Propaganda…like the bible. Talk about delusional people and morons. No wonder you think all science is junk.

glenp

yup the liberal icons at EAST ANGLIA finally admitted 1997 was teh last year of warming!!!!! NO WARMING ACCORDING TO LIBERALS!!!
Jerry Frey

The Bible is not junk, neighbor.

Just because you can’t understand it, does not mean others are unable to do so.

For POSITIVE Facts about Christianity, pls visit:

http://napoleonlive.info/judas-the-galilean-and-his-unterbrink-books/

vendicar decarian

NASA Finds 2011 Ninth Warmest Year on Record

“The planet hasn’t warmed since 1997.” – spongey Socket

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

So, why does Sonny Crockett feel a need to lie about the reality of the situation?

Gordon Crissey

When the earth shift 4 degrees on it’s axis due to the Earthquake in Japan the spinning point of the earth moved 297 miles. Of course that really explains why the weather is wacky at the spinning point of the earth moved nearly 300 miles. The questionis “Where is the new axis point of the earth located?

glenp

Gordon lay off the cheap hooch, your typing is slurred
John Price

Where did you pull those figures from? More like 6 feet, not 300. And not even from the North South axis. On the balance axis. 4 degrees would be huge !!! Think we would have heard about that and also noticed that the sun was not in the same place as usual throughout the length of the day.
Michael Collins

Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).

You really have been on a bender, haven’t you Gordon. No wonder you think your wang is 4 feet…not 4 inches.

jenilea

I dont know what to believe about what is going on. All I know is that this is the wierdest winter ever. Something just doesnt sit right about it. Its like I want to enjoy it but know in the back of my mind something is wrong…… who knows.

glenp

enjoy it since we are all doomed 12/21 according to the mayans

Leland Williams Jr.

Where are the GLOBAL WARMING fanatics? Oh yea, OWS. endtimesurvival dought calm

Smokey the Bear

It’s Bush’s fault. Obama inherited global warming from Bush. “The failed policies of the Bush’s have all led to this overwhelming collapse in the economy, and climate from megatons of fossil fuels burnt. We simply cannot spend enough money, fast enough. Soon, polar bears will be roaming the streets of NYC and joining the OWC camps and applying for Federal aid”.

Pensieve

It is breathtakingly simplistic to take unseasonably warm temperatures in the Northeast this year as some kind of “proof” of global warming. If you were talking about the globe as a whole – and the averages therein – including, don’t forget, all of that area above the ocean, which is, of course, vast – then you are making some sense.

The fact that so many comments here indicate a belief that a bloom in February is proof of global warming, demonstrates only how people are easily gulled.

ahoy polloi

a string of mild winters, and blooms that come consistently earlier and earlier each year ARE highly correlated to a changing climate. any gardener telling the truth would admit as much.
bumpkin

Isnt it the truth! If these warm days are not record highs, then it is nothing at all newsworthy. Its merely a rerun of old “pre-global-warming-blah-blah” temps. You are SO right about how gullible people are. I find it shocking that people are willing to swallow about anything they are told. While that might portend good things about people’s expectations of honesty, it also is portent of just how much influence that liars and advertisers (paid liars) have over our people. Criminy!

Nostradamus

Math is Math. Looking a bell curves, deviations from norms and annualized earth temps from eons of data shows……..it getting warmer. Ignore teh politics, look at the math.

Michael Einsberg

you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Mywoody

If we have reliable data going back about 120 years then is it not reasonable that of 365 days per year we will see a new record now and then every year?

Give us real data for thousands of years then a new record would be note worthy but even still not a reason to tear apart your entire society and how they live.

Jeremy P. Carlo

That’s a valid point. One would expect records to be set from time to time. That’s the nature of statistical fluctuations. Once in a while a record high is set, once in a while a record low is set, and it all evens out in the wash.

Except that that is absolutely not what’s occurring. Over the last 2-3 decades there has been a consistent trend in which the number of record highs has exceeded the number of record lows; currently the discrepancy is about 2:1 (in other words, 2 record high temperatures are broken every time 1 record low is broken).

That is exactly what we would expect if the earth is indeed getting warmer. You know, just like all those scientists have been saying all along.

Source and a nice graphic illustrating the trend:
http://www2.ucar.edu/news/1036/record-high-temperatures-far-outpace-record-lows-across-us

Jeremy P. Carlo

That’s a good point – we should be looking at the whole globe, not just local fluctuations. And indeed when you look at the whole globe, average temperatures have steadily been climbing, and for the last decade almost every single year has been among the hottest on record for over a century. So yes, global warming is real.

Mikey

*citation needed, and no, Al Gore isn’t a valid source. Nor is the junk science that has been PROVEN to be falsified.

Jeremy P. Carlo

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/ (References to the actual published data are contained therein; I provide you with an HTTP link for ease of access)

You’re absolutely correct to ask for a citation. And there are some.

But to jump one step ahead… if you’re going to claim that published, peer-reviewed work by the scientific community is “junk,” you’re going to have to provide citations of similar or higher quality (that is, published work by other appropriately-credentialed scientists in peer-reviewed outlets) in order for that claim to stand. (That’s right, the bloated claims of anonymous bloggers, or your own un-refereed analysis of what you think the data says or doesn’t say, won’t stand.)

Godsmotive

Really nice weather in Nebraska this winter…I am curious why any change from some unknown “norm” is considered bad. When it was global cooling…that was bad, global warming then that was bad….the all purpose “climate change.” and that is bad. Environmentalism is such twaddle. If this winter in Nebraska is any indication of what is to come….break out the aerosols.

Jeremy P. Carlo

“Good” and “bad” are relative terms. A warm winter is “good” because temperatures trend more closely toward what we find comfortable, or easy to live in. And an exceptionally cold winter is “bad” for the exact same reason – it’s a drive away from the temperatures and conditions we find comfortable and easy to live in.

Now, how would we categorize a summer whose temperatures are significantly above average? By the above definitions, would that be “good” or “bad?” In other words, would an extreme heat wave in the middle of summer be similar to, or different from, an extreme heat wave in the middle of winter?

One of the predictions of the global warming model is a starkly increased frequency of heat waves, both in the summer and the winter. Make of that what you will.

Chris

It’s not liberal propaganda if it’s dead center on Drudge Report. Plants blooming is a FACT, for whatever reason. The climate is changing, and the reason doesn’t matter as much as how we’ll deal with it. I know a few folks who might be willing to rake the leaves in Zucotti Park.

Ehop

blah blah blah
Meantime Poland and Alaska under a deep freeze.
Averages are just that averages.
Any idea what the temperature in NY was in 1425?
In the schme of the world, that is recent and we have no idea.
Liberal propaganda is what it is.

Jeremy P. Carlo

You’re right in your first statement. Some places are warmer than normal. Other places are cooler than normal.

It is vital that we not draw conclusions from local extrema, only from broadly generalized trends that take into account what’s happening in many places.

So if you average over all those places, you find that, on the whole, the average is… significantly higher than in past decades, and continuing to trend upwards.

In other words, exactly what is predicted by climate change models.

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/ and references therein

Mywoody

Wow really…

Is that before or after they clean up there feces??

Bob G.

Plants are so easy to fool……
Ant

Dear dou** bags,

The sun had a major CME (coronal mass ejection)
late last month. When the sun belches GIGA-TONS of charged particles and energy at the earth, what do you think will happen? The sun, moon, PDO, volcanic haze, et al are what are responsible for our weather. CO2 is insignificant if not irrelevant. Water is a stronger “green-house” gas. Methane has 25 times the heat capacity of CO2. How about we start composting our food waste and using the methane for fuel, instead of pushing genocidal policies on unsuspecting dummies. F*** Al Gore. Get a clue self-loathing hippy trash

NotA_Bearther

Harrumph!! Well said and thank you for the info! Of course, it won’t matter to the followers of the Global Warming Religion known as BEarthers..
ahoy polloi

Dear bigger dou**bag,

The CME theory is the second most repeated myth when “debunking” climate change.

http://www.skepticalscience.com/cosmic-rays-and-global-warming.htm

Nice try, though.

Warstorm Trading

And the methane and water vapor. Oh you are going to take a skip on the hard ones and just go after the easy one. Got it. LOL

ahoy polloi

nope, methane and water vapor do trap more heat than CO2. however, if we had national CC legislation, there’s be plenty of resources available to trap fugitive methane and burn it as fuel.

unfortunately for you my friend, CO2 actually helps create a feedback effect that results in more water vapor, thus amplifying CC. it’s all very easy to understand:

http://www.skepticalscience.com/water-vapor-greenhouse-gas.htm

Don Lieber

…and the Earth is flat, and the laws of chemistry, like how Carbon effects atmospheric balance – is a lie perpetuated by that Muslim in the White House. MCOZZY1 your comments are moronic. Laughable if climate change implications weren’t so important to our descendants. Do you have kids? Would you let them continue to down Slurpies and Coca Cola if your doctor said they were diabetic? Jesus I’m amazed at the stupid propensity of normally intelligent people to deny what’s in your face. LAWS OF SCIENCE apply here….oh, enjoy the 60 degree day today.

dare

Which “Law of Science” applies, smart guy? Maybe the law of being close to a giant STAR that has it’s own cyclic rate of getting hotter and colder when it damn well feels like it?

bobsaggetsuckswangforcoke

um the sun doesnt cyclicly get hotter or colder lol.

Ant

The climate changes… always has. Study the sciences and stop felating Al Gore. Study them for months, every aspect. Look at the data sources and collection methodologies. Craps all a scam, AS PROVEN by Climate Gate. What say ye’ about your gods’ lies exposed?
Go learn or kill yourself

Fide

Ant I’m calling your bluff. There’s no way you studied peer reviewed literature on climate science and concluded that AGW is a scam. I think it’s far more likely that you skimmed over headlines on the Drudge Report or Free Republic and arrived at your conclusion.

You can call me a liberal or a greenie or whatever, I am not. I’m a fiscal conservative who’s ACTUALLY studied the issue.

Warstorm Trading

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html

Then you must have read this one too. Sorry, bub, but you are buying the garbage that the left is selling(just like Newt did).

Jonathan

your the moron bud.. Think about the impact that all this “global warming” nonsense has on our/ the world economy. How many people have fallen into poverty over different greenhouse gas standards or CAFE standards or any of the suffocating EPA environmental bureaucracy that we all live through. OR GAS PRICES! Are you going to tell those people that their poverty is a necessary evil because of man’s impact on the planet. Which to be honest with ourselves we can’t even prove definitively one way or another. Wow I know liberals love to say they are the keepers of compassion but they fight tooth and nail to perpetuate this farce which impacts real people’s lives negatively every day all in the name of saving the planet. I guess we should all just shut up and let people like Don tell us how its gonna be. No debate necessary.
Warstorm Trading

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html

You mean these scientists that are warning that global cooling is the real coming threat?

gwbnyc

gosh I just looked out my windows and saw nothing at all like this…

do you guys ever tire of carrying liberal water?
mcozzy1

Notice that none of the news media is covering the latest global temperature readings. We now know for a FACT that the Earth is no longer warming.

It was a global cooling scare in the 1970s. It was a global warming scare in the 2000s. It looks like the 2010′s will be another global cooling scare. LOL. Mother nature has now revealed the same thing that the climategate e-mails revealed. Global temperatures are completely normal and man’s affect is minimal at best.

Sola Fide

Maybe because the news media doesn’t get it’s latest global temperature readings from infowars.com. Seriously buddy, get a cluel you sound like a nutjob moon landing denier.

Warstorm Trading

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html

How about NASA then?

Hilarion

Walking along the Sixth Avenue side of Bryant Park yesterday I could see the shoots of daffodils and tulips already coming up strong — in January!. Given a few more days of warmish weather and they will be blooming….and ready to be cut and stolen.
Tax Revolt

I have been telling people that our weather paterns were changing and have been for the last 10 years. Our seasons are going to change. Winter will come early in (jan to april) the year, spring middle of the year (may to aug), summer towards the end (sept to dec.) and then back to winter in Jan. There are many other factors involved than just man made global warming.

Morbo

PLANETARY ORBITS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!
Josh

…Tax Revolt. For one thing the seasons we experience are a result of mainly two things. The first is the earths axis of rotation, it is not perpendicular to the plane of the eclipse( the plane in which all the planets orbits occur). The axis is titled around 15 to 20 degrees. This fact combined with the orbit of the earth around the sun means that at some points the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun, receiving more energy, and sometimes it is farther away, receiving less. When the northern hemisphere is closer the days are longer and warmer, as in summer. So did the axis of rotation of the earth shift, or did the pace at which we circle the sun shift. Because those are the only ways the seasons will change.

JerzeyBoy

In simple terms: The weather is controlled by the mass of the a$$, times the square of the hair divided by the angle of the dangle. Got it.

Michael Moore

Global warming is only a crisis when a republican is president.
Robert

It is a good thing there is not global warming. Can you imagine how bad this would be if there were? Plants would be blooming in February.

JOE

They are blooming in February, Just look around.

Uncle Reggie

he was being sarcastic

abe

Warm Jan/early Feb mean blizzards in April.

lvh

That’s what I’m afraid of. Or a wet summer..ugh!

Benjy Bronk’s Bald Spot

Bloomberg should ban warm winters.

Jeremy P. Carlo

If that ban will be just as effective as all his other bans, then we’ve got nothing to worry about! (/sarcasm)

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Plants Blooming Early From Unseasonably Warm Weather

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