Field of Science

Stoopid plants! It's not spring yet!

Yesterday broke a 100+ year old weather record with a high of 63 F smashing the old record of 54 F.  A young foreign student staying with us left this morning to visit Chicago for a couple of days, and she will come away with the erroneous conclusion that Chicago a nice place in the winter!  Well, it's not Thunder Bay, but still, it's not Pensacola either.  Our continental climate produces big dramatic swings in weather; that's expected, but what is not expected is the first week of February to have highs in the 50s.  Plants do stoopid things when we get weather like this.  They don't have calendars, and having had a period of cold weather, their physiology is convinced that it's time for spring so atypically warm temperatures break their cold dormancy.  So bulbs will be popping up, indeed, snow drops are in flower, not that more snow and cold will do them any damage, but some of the Phactor's magnolias are pretty stoopid and the earliest flowering get fooled regularly.  Nothing can be done about it, but curse this miserable weather that all the non-plant mopes are chortling gleefully about.  It doesn't have to be bitter cold, just consistently cold.  Uh oh, maybe someone didn't make a proper sacrifice to the snow god.  Quick, let's freeze a Floridian before it's too late!

2 comments:

Psi Wavefunction said...

Yeah, so far the "harsh Midwestern winter" is thoroughly disappointing. Right now it's what we on the west coast call 'summer' outside: +16C and sunny. Last night I found myself momentarily confused about what side of the continent I was on...

I was looking forward to snow again, after living 5 years without it!

Andrew Lane Gibson said...

I have been ridiculed and accosted for saying the same thing regarding the current temperature swing. Many don't understand my disdain for too many 50-60+ degree days in January and February. It isn't due to some weird attraction to the cold (even if I do enjoy the break in sweating) but I just can't fathom a partially ruined spring. Here's to the hope of a month-long cold snap and then a gradual warm up for our dear spring ephemerals so they can have a 'normal' life cycle this year!