This was Friday night, 65 degrees at 5:00 pm....
This was this afternoon, cloudy and cool, but an ice free Lake Benton with male, red-wing blackbirds standing guard (ice out was overnight March 10/11 and the blackbirds were back by at least March 9 - the earliest I remember for either)....
All of this is way too early and there will be ecological consequences because of this general trend. Winters are starting later and ending sooner. Temperatures are not as low as they used to be, especially the night time temperatures. Species are migrating back to Minnesota earlier than in the past and leaving the state later than the past....
I mean, lets cut the crap, the climate is and has been changing right in front of our eyes...and we know it's our fault. Humans are driving the climate system at a pace faster than the earth can react due to 150+ years of continuing to burn fossil fuels at an ever increasing rate.
How often do we see headlines like "February 2016 was the most abnormally warm month ever recorded, topping January 2016." Before this year, Minneapolis had 3 days with temperatures in the 70s before March 15, we've had 2 this month. The trend is up and the general public doesn't seem to care...
But wasn't it nice in shorts and flip-flops? Darn right...but there is a cost. The boundary waters are losing their native conifers (being replaced with deciduous trees), invasive species are taking a hold (see many opossums in the 1960s?), the moose population is declining in part due to climate, plants are not blossoming at the right time as species come back earlier, large scale droughts, flood events, etc., etc., etc. The list is long (I don't even want to start with what's going on in the Arctic, which is driving events globally)...
Enjoy the warmer and earlier springs (and later falls) - I'm sure I will continue to wear shorts in early March, but unfortunately our kids, their kids and the following generations will deal with the consequences...
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