Messy Monday and Something On Thursday

This male cardinal knows that Spring is here.  He is outside

my window, singing his fool head off.

Don't worry.  The snow you will see on Monday will have no affect on schools other than an increase in Mommies lining up in the school driveways at the end of the day.

As for Wednesday, it looks like rain, followed by a little bit of frozen stuff at night.  Possible late opening Thursday, but don't count on it.  

Signs of Spring, and a Snow Storm.

Just went out to enjoy a day above freezing.  

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk cabbage is blooming.  

Opposum

Skunks and opossums are wandering in the roads looking for mates and getting run over.  

Red maple buds are swelling, creating red smudges on the hillsides.

Red maple buds are swelling

Male birds are going insane.  There is no quiet anywhere, what with the cardinals, juncos, titmice, chickadees, 

Chickadee

goldfinches, woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, red-shouldered hawks, and robins all screaming for attention.

Pileated woodpecker in my back yard this afternoon.  I have been

trying to get a photo of one of these giant woodpeckers for years.  

They are very shy.

As for that major storm next week, maybe, maybe not.  Stay tuned.  There will be more accurate predictions once the storm actually forms.

Weather Update, Long and Short Term. Updated Saturday

[Saturday - What might become a storm here on Thursday is still over the Pacific.  It will not reach the west coast until Monday.  Projections show it going south of us, but we won't know until Monday or Tuesday.}

There has never really been any controversy about climate change.  There have simply been those who can understand the facts and those who make money by denying them.  So...

Short term:  NOAA has issued an El Niño Watch for the summer and fall of 2014, giving a 50% chance that an El Niño event will occur. 

What this means is that a drop in the easterly trade winds will result in a warmer than usual eastern Pacific Ocean, which might mean …

Fewer hurricanes will form in the Atlantic, they would be weaker, and would be more likely to drift away from the coast of the United States.

  

Precipitation patterns will change.  In particular, the southwest will be much wetter than normal, possibly ending the years-long drought or else washing everyone away.  For Connecticut, normal or slightly drier air.

As for temperature, Connecticut will be fairly normal, while the northwest is warmer and the Gulf Coast is colder.

Longer term (but not all that long!):  According the the US Navy, by 2030, the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route could be ice free and navigable for at least nine weeks each year. The Bering Strait could be ice free for a whopping 27 weeks a year.  

Also, new research from the Institute of Physics predicts that temperatures greater than the 2 °C global average will be experienced in Northern and Eastern Europe in winter and Southern Europe in summer; however, North-Western Europe -- specifically the UK -- will experience a lower relative warming (the shutdown of the Gulf Stream will refrigerate that area).

And researchers  are reporting the first hard evidence that malaria does -- as had long been predicted -- creep to higher elevations during warmer years.  So all of those cities that were built up high to avoid the mosquitoes….

And right now...!   The snow is melting, the birds that normally stay here all winter (chickadees, crows, woodpeckers) are pairing off and looking for nest sites, the buds on the maple trees are swelling....

And as of right this minute there is a 40% chance that there will be no school next Thursday.  Stay tuned for updates.

The Tip Of His Tail

This year we are "enjoying" one of the effects of climate change:  more energy in the atmosphere means more energy in the weather.  England is drowning, Australia is roasting, and New England is freezing.

Also, during the highest tides the main streets of Miami are under water.

A less obvious sign of the warming planet is the number of plants and animals that are on the way north.  I now see birds at my feeder that would not have been seen north of Virginia years ago.  Southern plants are becoming northern plants.  Crocodiles have moved another State further north. And tropical diseases are now being found in Connecticut.

Opossum, showing his frost-bitten ears

One of the animals that have moved north is the Opossum.  They are one of the earlier migrants, thanks to their willingness to eat anything, including human garbage.

The Opossum is famed for the defensive trick of flopping down on the ground with its tongue out and eyes closed when threatened.  That, along with its foul body odor, make it unpalatable to predators who like fresh meat.

That the Opossum is not really adapted for northern winters is obvious by the loss of ear tips and tail tips to frostbite.  Also the fact that they like to freeze to death in my woodshed.

Here you can see that the tip of his tail has frozen off

Opossums are lone creatures except in early March when, of course, it is mating season.  My bird feeders seem to be serving as singles bars.

No Snow For You

In case you missed the earlier post, no snow.  No delays, not closings in central Connecticut.

Peaceful

With the temperature above freezing, I went for a wander through the Nassahegan State Forest.

Peaceful.    With ravens.

Think It Is Cold In Connecticut?

Check out this satellite photo of the Great Lakes.

This doesn't happen often.  It is COLD up there!