by Tom Shafer
February 27, 2023
So, by the end of tomorrow evening, the National Weather Service will declare that February 2023 was the warmest February in Miami Valley history. And to be honest, I don’t need that declaration to know how warm it has been. I spend at least two to three hours outside every day, and for the entirety of the month, I could count on one hand the number of times I actually utilized a coat. Additionally, in my woods, I am daily witnessing evidence of warming with the early blooming of forsythia and honeysuckle. Then yesterday, I saw this:
Of course, those of you who follow my ramblings will recognize this purple crocus, the same crocus that has acted as harbinger of early spring for the last two years (read “Spring Has Sprung!” from 2021 and “Spring Springs Again!” from 2022 under the Naturelated tab). In those years, PC flowered on March 12 and March 11 respectively, and I think it was a similar date the two years prior. But this year, it bloomed on February 26, almost two weeks earlier!
And yes, tulips and daffodils are also protruding through the tepid soil, so local gardeners are concerned — bordering on apoplexy — that these daft temperatures will encourage other more delicate plants to emerge, leaf, and bud. And well they might, but with Mother Nature in charge, there is little we can do about it.
Then today, with temperatures again pushing 70º and instability in the upper and middle atmosphere, several spin-up tornadoes touched down around the area, and one supercell passed very near us, one that had spit out at least one twister in its history.
When I first stepped out, I didn’t have my phone, so I ran back to grab it so that I could capture a lowering tornado on the back edge of the storm. But it was moving so fast (at about 60 mph) that by the time I got back to the yard, the little hook had passed out of view.
Now, the sun is out and the wind is roaring, but violent weather has presently passed to the east. Later this week, on Wednesday, we will likely break another record for daily high temperature, for the fourth time in the last ten to twelve days. So at least for this year, March will not roar in like a lion, unless 70º and sunny is considered “roaring.”
Welcome to early spring in Ohio?! Baaahhhh!!!
