Robert Lee Hotz had a great piece over the weekend in the LA Times about phenology as a climate change detector:
By analyzing decades of records kept by regional maple sugar producers, climate researchers are finding clear evidence here of what Rex Marsh can feel in his bones.
The weather just isn’t what it used to be.
In Ohio and New York, through New England and into Canada, the maple sugaring season starts and ends earlier than a generation ago, University of Vermont researchers and other experts say.
Moreover, the daily temperature cycle of frost and thaw on which sap production depends also has been disrupted.
While officials argue over carbon emission controls and global warming treaties, tree farmers such as the Marsh family, along with gardeners, anglers and bird-watchers, sense the change in the air.
Yes.
I, personally, think we’re going up the asymptote now, seeing changes of increasing speed if we can perceive these changes with our sensory receptors.
Best,
D
As a New Englander (who just stumbled on to your blog), I can also tell you that our foliage seasons are suffering as well. Last year was probably the worst season I can recall; the fewest bright reds and oranges in memory.
In addition to a dry late summer/early fall, the temps were also above normal…and the speculation is that the leaves on the trees didn;t know when to die, for lack of a better term.
Or in other words, the weather ain’t what it used to be.