Last year, I believe, there was a thread where people discussed the progression of spring at different latitudes. This is a similar thread, but for this year.
Here in central Pennsylvania the earliest spring flowers are out; coltsfoot, skunk cabbage, crocuses in gardens, etc. The Red-winged blackvirds have also returned, but thats pretty much it so far.
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It has been an extremely early spring so far here in eastern New York State. To begin with I should probably mention our (lack of) winter this year, it has been one of the warmest and driest I have seen. To summarize, in a normal year, my home gets around 80 inches of snowfall from October through April, but this year we have only had between 20 and 25 inches and presently there is no sign that any more is on the way - and only 5 (yes, 5) inches have fallen since New Year’s Day! That said, snow is virtually nowhere to be seen now, the skunk cabbages are up and the silver maples are beginning to flower, a woodcock has recently returned and wood frogs have suddenly appeared in the vernal pools, all of 20 days earlier than last year (and by the way, there was still snow when the wood frogs started calling last year). Sugar maple sap has been flowing somewhat consistently since early February, and is hardly flowing now at all with the sudden 60-degree weather we’re having. What a strange year!
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We almost didn’t have winter in Moscow because of the warm front, the minimal temperature was -8C, so some plants started flowering in autumn and even winter, and here was just a couple of weeks with snow.
Now the weather is jumping up and down, now it’s +11C but it should be 0C again next Sunday.
First flower for me is https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39662555
Salix are in spring mode too https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39405661
Many insects are out already, afraid too early if it will becold again, flies are everywhere on buildings.
The most surprising find https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39401074
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39657926
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39657268
Birds that were wintering started singing months ago, crows are building nests (saw them collecting branches), one of interesting migrants is “singing” male Green Woodpecker https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39645764
Graphics for temperature: http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/monitor.php?id=27612
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Israel’s spring coincides with the latter half of its rainy season, and the very start of its dry season. With the rains have come many plants; Veronica, thistles, Malva, Erigeron, Anemone coronaria, Cyclamen, Oxalis pes-caprae ( 
), a few Anisophyllum in drier spots, Senecio and Sonchus. A little later on, a dozen or so species of Brassicaceae, many Trifoleae including Medicago and Trifolium, Irises, Allium… I could go on.
Everything’s new to my eyes. I only started paying close attention to my natural surroundings when I joined iNat last summer. It’s basically my first spring! :D
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I saw a Mountain Bluebird yesterday here in Rapid City, South Dakota. Usually a sign our Spring is starting.
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This might be interesting to you guys https://www.usanpn.org/news/spring . Shows the status of a few different spring-indicating parameters (leaf out and bloom) across the US relative to averages. We’re about three weeks above average in most parts of the US, what was the most interesting part of this to me was that this average is starting from 1981 (only 39 years ago!). Not sure if there’s an equivalent for Europe/Asia.
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Here in middle Tennessee the violets have just started to bloom. Our Forsythia and crabapples have been out for a few weeks. I just saw our first butterfly, a Cabbage White, and mockingbirds have been singing for a while.
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On the north shore of Lake Ontario in Canada:
- bird migration is just starting to show. Male Red-winged Blackbirds are trickling in here too, but no females. Tundra Swans are going overhead. A very small smattering of migratory raptors, but no big push of birds yet. One thing that seems evident is the larger overwintering waterfowl flocks appear to be dispersing.
- Skunk Cabbages are starting to emerge, but at least as of Sunday on a hike nothing else was in bloom.
- I did see my first outdoor spider on Sunday and a couple of emergent butterflies out of hibernation were seen locally on Monday
- while it was crazy warm on Monday here (19 degrees) we still have some decent amounts of snow in places. While at my home near the lake it has melted, I was hiking Sunday about 20-25km inland from the lake and there was still knee deep or higher snow just a meter off the trail where it is not trampled down.
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Here in Berlin we barely had a winter at all. it “snowed” once, and rained lots :)
Crocuses and Snowdrops have been out since the beginning of February, and many of them have already wilted! Lots more spring wildflowers have come up since; more Crocuses, Winter Aconite, Siberian Squill, Speedwell, Snowdrops, Stitchwort, and several others. I was also quite surprised to find my first Honey Bee of the year in early February. There are lots of insects out, ant the woods are Filled with wolf spiders.
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I’m in Newfoundland and we’re probably about a month out from anything resembling spring here. We’ve had a higher snowfall than usual this winter and as such there are still about three to six feet of it on the ground. Snow typically does linger well into March here but we usually see much more of it melting by this point. I consider that to be the start of spring for us. Things like crocuses should show up in April, and fruit trees will usually flower in mid to late June
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On Feb 15, I saw one spot on the shores of Great Salt Lake with a swarm of adult brine flies. I don’t know when they normally come out, but I expect it usually isn’t that early. I remember walking in Dec 2009 and thinking “Just another balmy winter day.” It feels like nonsnowy winters have been just as common as snowy ones every year since then in the area.
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Here in Southwestern Alaska, unlike seemingly the rest of North America, we have had a colder than average winter compared to recent winters. The only noticeable progression toward Spring has been more daylight as usual. Still -18 Fahrenheit this morning, although it is forecasted to be in the 20s and possibly 30s above zero next week.
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It has been a low precipitation and not very cold winter here in New Brunswick, Canada, especially compared to the last few we have had. But still little going on that screams Spring!
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It really amazes me the amount of variation in what we can colloquially call the “arrival of spring” between different places and different times. I know of several locations throughout northern New York and New England with strikingly similar average winter temperatures and snowfall to here, and yet in any given year each may be incredibly different, so it is this winter with some of these places having twice as much snow as here. In regards to time, three years ago today, I was snowshoeing on three feet of snow to tap sugar maples, and yet this year I am watching wood frogs in ice-less ponds.
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Thank you for that link! Welcome to our forum! Don’t worry everybody here is wonderful. Almost. ;-)
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Welcome to our forum! :-)
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Here in Washington DC we didn’t have much of a winter at all. We had about 2 cm of snow in early Jan and that’s it. Skunk cabbage is done blooming and leafing out, crocuses are past peak, daffodils are full on, bloodroot is blooming, and spring beauties are starting. If we get more really cold or snowy weather at this point I’ll be surprised, but who knows?
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This reminds me of Thoreaus unfinished Wild Apples and the old Smithsonian nature calendar project.
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Here in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, I still have at least a foot of snow on the ground throughout my yard, and in many places 2 or more feet. There is no sign of open ground. I live surrounded by woods, so I get less wind and also less sun than some surrounding areas, so my yard is usually worse than average! I have yet to see any American robins or other migratory bird species. Snow fleas are particularly rampant at the moment - far more than I have seen in previous years. I would expect to see crocus tips emerging by mid-April if past years are anything to go by.
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