by Tom Shafer
March 1, 2024
So, meteorological spring commenced on March 1st, as it does every year, but “spring” in Ohio is being redefined as our climate continues to warm. I noted last year when reporting on the first annual crocus sighting — which I will get to — that I rarely wore a heavier coat during that winter. In fact, last year we experienced the second warmest February ever here in Dayton — including the warmest average high temperature in recorded history (51.9° F). That trend carried through to this year, and though the average high was only 46° by comparison, we absolutely shattered the record for average nighttime low temperature with a 37° aggregate (the previous record had been 32° in 1998!). Providing more evidence of regional warming, ten of the last fifty Februaries have witnessed average high temperatures of 45° or better, while the previous hundred Februaries totalled only four. Perhaps I should be donating my winter coat to a Goodwill further north.
Anyway, many of you are aware that I have been tracking the beginning of spring with a singular purple crocus that has taken root here in my backyard. When I first noticed it back in the mid-twenty teens, it was blooming in mid-March, but in subsequent years it began flowering earlier and earlier. Then, last year it blossomed on February 26, a full week before any previous year. So, yesterday, I was not surprised to witness this leap year gift:
It looks a little freezer burned, likely the result of some wild temperature swings in the last half week or so. And actually, these weather changes produced some early morning fireworks (complete with a 4:45 a.m. tornado warning) on February 28 as two tornadoes (an EF-1 and an EF-2) ripped across our area, both very close to our stately manor. My home weather station even recorded a wind gust of 91 mph as the front moved through. Tornadoes are a rare phenomenon in Ohio in February, but with climate changing, this may well become the norm. Unfortunately — or fortunately depending on your point of view — winter itself is shrinking right before our eyes.
Hopefully, like the proverb teaches us, with March roaring in like a lion, it will exit like a lamb.
Welcome Spring!
