Spring in the South has Arrived Early!
By: Bella Fayed
The winter in the south this year has been abnormally warm and has caused spring to come early, which could be a problem for vegetation growth. In the past, there have been several other abnormally warm winter seasons where vegetation started to grow, but was heavily damaged after the cold came in at the beginning of spring. The USA National Phenology Network has noticed similarities between the past winter seasons and the current season, which means that there is a high probability that there will be another devastating frost that will cause harm to the vegetation that grew during this period of time.
The damage that the frost can inflict on the vegetation can be extreme. “Tree’s can bounce back from a frost, but if flower buds get hit by frost, typically they do not regenerate those buds and then you won’t see fruit,” says Theresa Crimmins, the director of USA National Phenology Network. There was a situation in 2017 where warm weather conditions in February caused many species of flowers to grow early in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Then at around the middle of March, a frost hit and about 90% of peach crops were lost, blueberry crops in North Carolina were extremely damaged, and in Washington about half the cherry blossoms were effected.
The rising temperatures that cause these early springs are from climate change caused by humans. This greatly increases the chances of having early spring seasons in the future, but it also lowers the chance of having frost comes at the beginning of spring and damaging the vegetation that grows during that time. Studies, though, have shown mixed results about the future and the early springs will bring. Crimmins encourages people to observe the changes in climate around them so that people can better understand what is happening, and how it’s affecting the vegetation that grows.