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After an unusually warm winter, spring has historically arrived early in some parts of the US, despite Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions of a long winter.
Parts of the South are seeing the earliest spring on record or a spring that only occurs this early every 40 years, according to the National Network of Phenology.
The network tracks the arrival of spring by recording leaf and flower activity on lilacs and honeysuckles, which grow widely across the country and are among the first woody plans to sprout in the spring.
Spring is up to three weeks earlier than average in parts of the South and Southeast, including parts of East Texas and the Mississippi Delta, the group found.
In Charlotte and Norfolk, Virginia, the signs of spring appeared 11 days earlier than usual, while New Orleans was 9 days earlier and Miami was two days earlier.
Much of the Southeast is seeing the earliest spring on record or a spring that only occurs this early every 40 years, according to the National Phenology Network.
The coastal Northwest is ahead by a few days to several weeks, while Seattle is ahead by about a week.
Still, parts of the Southwest are running late, with much of southern California and Arizona days to more than a week behind.
Some parts of Arizona are seeing a spring that only happens this late about once every 40 years.
Officially, spring doesn’t begin until the vernal equinox, which falls on March 20 of this year. Meteorologists usually consider the first day of March as the beginning of the spring season.
This year’s historically early spring weather in some parts of the country is a blow to Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog forecaster who predicted six more weeks of winter on February 2.
It follows an unusually warm winter in parts of the country, including the Northeast, where many ski resorts have been forced to close temporarily for peak season due to a dearth of snow.
This year’s record early spring weather in some parts of the country is a blow to Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog forecaster who predicted six more weeks of winter.
A map shows where spring has already arrived, based on lilac and honeysuckle blossoms.
A close up view of spring California poppies and wildflowers blooming earlier this year in Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore earlier this month
In Vermont, warm temperatures meant bad business. Light snowfall within the state’s borders has made it nearly impossible for skiers to enjoy the Green Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian Mountains.
“Recently, it just hasn’t been cold enough for many ski resorts to produce snow effectively,” Spencer Spellman, senior editor at On The Snow, told Fox Weather last month.
Other major ski resorts in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut also had to temporarily close. New York City did not record its first measurable snowfall until February 1, the last snowfall for the city on records dating to 1869.
Philadelphia also went through January without recording any measurable snowfall, and Boston saw about a third of its usual snowfall totals through early February.
Now, less than halfway through February, spring conditions could soon arrive in the Midwest and Northeast, at least temporarily.
The graph shows the warmest ‘Januaries’ on record for New York City, based on average highs.
“By Wednesday, the core of warm air and the possibility of record highs being set will stretch from Michigan and Ohio to Pennsylvania, West Virginia and upstate New York,” he said. AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.
“Highs in much of this area by midweek will be in the 60s to 70s,” he added.
The high in Pittsburgh is projected to hit 67 F on Wednesday, just a few degrees below the city’s Feb. 15 record of 69, which was set in 1954.
“On Thursday, the core of warm air may extend from the Appalachian Mountains into much of the Interstate 95 corridor,” Anderson said. “In the mid-Atlantic and New England, high temperatures will be well into the 60s from Washington, DC, to Boston, while parts of Virginia can be in the 70s.”
Still, long-range forecasts suggest that much cooler air could return to the Midwest and parts of the Northeast by early March, potentially causing problems for plants that have already flowered by then.