Spring is here!

…ALREADY!?!?

Yes. Spring has come. Today, March 20, is the first day of Spring.

It’s hard to tell today is the first day of Spring, unless you notice the blooming flowers.

Since this past winter was actually wetter, this year could be a good year for desert wildflowers.

There are two places this article mentions to go flower watching. For a California road trip, go to Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The area received over nine inches of rain, more than it gets in a span of a year. To kill two birds with one stone, go to Vegas where you can gamble and flower watch. Half an hours drive away from Las Vegas is the Mojave desert.

The early Spring arrival brings lots of pretty flowers but for biologists it brings worry.

According to seattlepi.com, the early spring is affecting plants and animals.

"The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too fast," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said.

According to National Geographic, Spring has been coming earlier and earlier each year due to global warming. The early season is a sign of what humans are doing to the earth.

Global warming has been speeding up phenology or the biological timing.

First it affects plants phenology. Because of the warming temperatures, flowers are blooming a lot earlier then it is suppose to. In Washington D.C., cherry blossoms are expected to bloom by the end of this month. However just 30 years ago, the trees waited to blossom around April 5th.

Animal’s biological timing is being sped up too. The National Geographic article from earlier says that in central California, butterflies have been emerging around March 12th. The butterflies usually emerge sometime between mid-april to mid-may. That was 25 years ago.

The seattlepi.com article says that scientists have been able to tell the season comes earlier from looking at the “green-up” or when lands are turning green from outer space. Since 1982, Spring has been arriving an eight hours earlier every year.

The pretty flowers coming early are fine by me, but since global warming is really the cause, I’d rather wait until a later date for plants and flowers to emerge like Mother Nature intended.

Oh, and if you have allergies, more flowers means more pollen, so good luck with that.