Spring has sprung significantly early in the North
Translated by Alexis Veenendaal
Due to the extremely warm winter, the sprouting of plants in the North is five weeks ahead of the fifty year average, and 2.5 weeks ahead of the average of the past 19 years. This makes the start of spring equal to that of 2008 and 2016, which were the earliest ever. This is revealed by an analysis of flowering reports submitted via Natuurkalender.nl, and reported by Groningen.news.nl
The Nature Calendar network has investigated the timing of the annual sprouting in the region. If the observations of flowering snowdrop, hazel, alder; yellow dogwood, butter burr, blackthorn; and pilewort are compared with their usual schedule, the flowering this year is 35 days earlier. The observations recorded in 2001, 2008 and 2016 were just as early.
The effect of the high temperatures is clearly visible in nature. Flower bulbs are in bloom across the region, and shrubs are already showing their leaves. The average temperature for January and February is likely to be 6.8 degrees.
Image via Pixnio user Bicanski
