25th March 2007

Warm Weather Where You Are?

Warmer Weather Than Usual This Time of Year?
by Laura Thieme

It’s March.  Yep, not July, March, in case you were wondering why the pools aren’t open.  It’s going to be 80 degrees tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio.  Today was in the high 70’s.  That’s typically Florida weather this time of year, or warmer.  About a month ago, per the blog posts below, robins were dying because the ground had been frozen for over a month.  Now the robins have long forgotten their cherry post.  They’re off mating, or chasing each other around the neighborhood.  Indeed, a sign of spring.  I have to laugh because yesterday I came out of the office after training two interns, and noted three black crows in the trees.  I thought, “Great!”  “Black crows”.  I always thought crows were a sign of death, at least the movies depicts that, right?  Anyway, then I saw a black crow standing on top of the other, and thought, “OOOOH, so that’s how….”  LOL.  So, more like a sign of procreation, not death.

Sorry, I digressed.  Anyway, so how ’bout this warm weather we’re having?  I have a problem when it’s this warm, knowing we had 32 degree weather a short while ago, and two weeks ago we had wild temperature fluctuations.   According to www.wunderground.com the average March temperature for Columbus, Ohio is 45 degrees.  The high record of 80 degrees was set back in 1907.  The record low was set in 2001, at 13 degrees.   If you look at this report for the month of March, you see that we’re about 20 degrees over the average on a daily basis, in the past couple of weeks. 

So is warmer weather at this time of year a further sign of global warming, or just fluctuation in the temperature?  According to the New York Times, warmer winter weather is affecting Vermont’s infamous maple sugar production schedule, making it harder to figure out when to tap the trees for its maple sap.  2.8 degrees warmer according to researchers in the Northeast United States, which is affecting the sugaring season, making it come earlier and last a shorter period of time.

If you wonder why this matters, let’s isolate the maple trees in Vermont as one effect of global warming and how that can affect the economy.  Vermont is well known for its maple syrup, but this also drives tourism.  If people do not schedule their trips to Vermont, because the maple syrup season is earlier or shorter, or if maple trees do not thrive in the warmer weather over many years, this can affect so many industries and companies related to tourism-driven local economy.

In fact, one of the largest maple sugar producers in Vermont, Arthur Berndt, is part of a class-action lawsuit (www.climatelawsuit.org) against the Import Export Bank and others.  See the environmental lawsuit PDF by clicking on this link.  Very interesting read.

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