It is 85 degrees now in my north-central Florida county.

[Blue_true]

Nothing special to note about that, but things are changing environmentally and that is of note. People can argue about the exact cause of climate change, but a person has to be a complete idiot to deny that climate change is taking place.

When I was in grade school, the mint-colored new leaves on the trees would break out around early to mid-April, I used to use their appearance as a marker that school would soon be out and summer break would start. This year the leaf buds appeared in early February and by the end of February, many trees has mint-colored new leaves, now pretty much all trees have them, some with heavy new foliage. Although the sight is beautiful, I can't help but feel like it is a Frankenstein still asleep but slowly awakening.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. I'm 62

In my entire life, I can never remember a winter in which it never got below 32 degrees in Mobile, AL. In fact, we haven't even had a freeze where I live. The skeeters are going to carry us off this summer.
Everything is blooming here. Nature is all farked up.
It's only going to get worse from here.

[at140]

3. Los Angeles had the coldest February in over 100 years

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-cold-february-20190228-story.html

[onenote]

8. In January 1985, the temperature dropped to three degrees in Mobile.

Not sure if there have been readings between 3 and 32 in the ensuing 34 years.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. I remember it well....I played golf at

Gulf Pines that day. Yes, it was closed and it was so cold we couldn't get the tees in the ground.

[Blue_true]

14. I have been using bug repellent for over a month when going outside

at night. It is like the mosquitoes never died off.

[Ferrets are Cool]

26. I completely understand. And the fleas

are going to be even harder to fight this year.

[Blue_true]

35. Them too. nt

[trof]

29. 75 degrees in Foley today.

[Ferrets are Cool]

31. Hope that weather didn't hit you too hard.

We got off with just hard rain and some lightning.

[trof]

32. There was this one thunderclap

I damn near wet my pants.
Out of nowhere.
Sounded like next door.
All quiet and then KAPOW!
I could smell the ozone.

[lark]

2. yes. climate change is very obvious in No. FL.

I grew up in Jacksonville FL where we had an average of 33 days per year of below freezing weather. This winter I think there were 3 days where it hit freezing, that's it. We also used to get weather that would go down into the low 20's or even the teens every year at least once or twice. Last year was the coldest winter we've had in 5 years or more and the low was only 27. Oh, and azaleas that used to bloom the end of March, first week of April are now blooming the end of Feb. or sooner. Things are not right and getting worse and today's repugs don't care as long as they can squeeze an extra dime out of ous.

[at140]

4. Climate change obvious in Los Angeles as well

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-cold-february-20190228-story.html

[Blue_true]

15. Azaleas have been out here for about two-three weeks. nt

[lark]

41. My azaleas are under an oak tree so are some of the last to bloom.

Some of my neighbors have had azaleas blooming for a couple of weeks. I also live right by the river, so it's often cooler here because of the winds.

[Squinch]

5. I live near where I grew up. There is a nearby slow-moving river, and I can remember all

the kids going every afternoon to ice skate on it during the winter. It was frozen for weeks at a time and the ice was thick.

That river has not frozen for many, many years.

[DontBooVote]

6. For the past 3 years, there are certain trees that have started budding and other that

have already flowered - in February. I've live in these parts for nearly 40 years and I don't recall that happening ever that early in the year.

And now we are bracing for a brutal cold spell that will put our temperatures down into the teens and 20s, perhaps lower if that map that was posted here on DU the other day rings true. I worry that this cold snap will freeze and kill the buds and flowers that are showing in about 1/3 of trees here.

[Brainstormy]

7. by contrast

we scarcely have anything blooming in Atlanta, and the temps are going to be in the 20s at night for most of the week.

[akraven]

10. I think I hate you - it's 12 below

and we got another couple inches of snow!

[Blue_true]

17. That looks bad. Stay safe. nt

[akraven]

18. This isn't bad, Blue - it's normal.

I'm in Fairbanks, Alaska. Biggest problem is visibility and newcomers on the Army and Air Force bases! We watch closely for the little window stickers identifying them as residents there!

[Blue_true]

21. If their vehicles have Florida tags, be extra careful. Driving in snow is not one of our core

capabilities.

[akraven]

22. LOL! Some of the worst traffic problems on the main roads -

are caused by folks with Minnesota tags because they assume all snow is the same. Ours is so dry, you can sweep it off the porch or car!

The Florida tags are annoying because they creep along at about 12 MPH in a 55 zone, but we give 'em a pass. The military here has FINALLY taken to giving courses on Arctic driving.

[bluecollar2]

23. Neither is using turn signals...

Just sayin'

(Dade County resident here)

[Blue_true]

34. Same thing here in Marion County.

They drive 35 until right before the turn, brake hard and then slowly make the turn. Have dealt with many years of that stuff.

[Rizen]

11. It's 10 degrees f in CO

I agree climate change is real; I'm just saying.

[eleny]

20. And we've had snow just about every week since December in the Denver metro area

We're in Lakewood so west of I-25 where we can get more snow. But every week is unusual and I've been here since 1976. The cold is fine. Even below zero is fine. But I'm ready for some of those Chinook winds we didn't get in February when we should have had some.

More snow on the way tonight.

[MineralMan]

12. It was -4 degrees this morning here when I drove

to the supermarket. -13 F earlier in the morning - a new all-time low for this date. Climate change.

[Blue_true]

19. Someone should take a bit of time to explain to the doubters (if they will listen)

that Climate Change can produce abnormally hot and cold temperatures, along with abnormal snowfall, rain and drought.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. -2 In Chicago Monday Morning

On March 4!
Now, I'm talking about a difference of 11 calendar days, but my wife & I got married 3/15/80, and it was 65.
We've had cold in March before, but I don't recall anything recently where a day in March was sub zero
Per NWS, it was -12 in 1873 and it was zero on the 5th, in 1978. I just didn't remember the latter as that was 41 years ago.

[MineralMan]

44. Well, such low temperatures are not typical of March.

Patterns are changing. Violent tornadoes are also not typical for March in Alabama, but a couple of dozen people, at least, are dead due to tornadoes yesterday.

Climate change is a real thing, whether Donwald Trump believes it or not. His belief or disbelief has exactly nothing to do with it.

[ProfessorGAC]

56. No Doubt (eom)

[JCMach1]

13. Meanwhile, we will probably break a record-low in DFW tonight

[moondust]

16. January was Australia's hottest month on record

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/january-named-as-australias-hottest-month-on-record

[BeckyDem]

24. Yep. I appreciate your post very much. It is real.

[2naSalit]

25. It was -26F this morning when I got up

late this afternoon we're up to a balmy -6F. This is all pretty normal for October - mid February. Our seasons seem to have shifted about ten weeks later than they used to be even ten years ago.

I am an orchid watcher and some of the orchids that used to bloom up to six weeks apart now overlap in the middle of that time frame. Just one example of how it's just never gonna be the same.

[Poiuyt]

27. I've noticed how the seasons have shifted too

When I was a child in Wisconsin (I'm now 66), the coldest months were Dec, Jan, and Feb. Now (still in WI) the coldest months are Jan, Feb, and Mar.

[2naSalit]

33. Was the same here

in Montana. When I lived in WI, back in the early 1980s, the cold months were as you said. And summers never got beyond the 90s if they ever got that high. Now we are seeing temps in the 100s in summer up here, well north of the 45th parallel. I try to stay in the northern latitudes because I can't tolerate the heat, anything over 75F is when I start to wilt like piece of lettuce.

[Blue_true]

36. My estimate is about 8-10 weeks of shift for what I see.

From around the second or third week of April to early February.

[jcgoldie]

28. Here is the most tangible way that climate change effects me...

I have kept bees in southern Illinois for 20+ years. 20 years ago, I only occasionally fed bees in late winter. If you keep bees in the midwest you learn to not take off more honey than will allow your hives to overwinter. But now its almost impossible to gauge. I feed every hive starting as early as late December and January. Then I continue to feed through January, February, and March. I feed with dried sugar on the topboard, some folks find other ways to get them the sugar even in months when syrup will freeze. Everyone feeds now. If you don't want massive casualties... losing hives in February and March just a month or so before spring to starvation, then you have to feed...
The way the bees work is roughly like this: through the summer when flowers are plentiful and nectar is flowing, a healthy hive if you keep adding boxes can swell to 100,000 bees. Summer bees live only 30 days and the queen lays eggs feverishly in the hive and they hatch 21 days later. By mid fall when there's nothing left to harvest the bees cut their numbers tremendously. Overwinter they may have a tenth of what they were in summer. These bees live 3 months and spend their winter months inside the hive in a cluster keeping the brood warm so the hive will survive the cold winter.
Now the bees are wired to explode in population at just the right time. When the spring nettle and dandelions and clover begins to open, the queen is working hard and expanding numbers to meet the demand. But heres the rub... now we get 70 degree days in january and early february with increasing frequency. Not just a few of these days but often a couple of weeks worth. The bees take their cue from the warmth and the sunny days and the queen starts to lay. Winter honey reserves are waning and suddenly the population of the hive goes from 5,000 to 25,000... and still nothing is blooming. They plough through the last of their honey and dies by the thousands just a couple of weeks before the purple nettle blooms. A sunny day in early March and you see thoudsands of dead bees on the bottom entrance board of a hive. Its a very sad sight.
Ask any beekeeper and they may not know why it happens or their politics may be wrong. But I guarantee they will know this phenomenon and they will tell you these days you have to feed in the late winter.

[Blue_true]

37. A direct impact to a species and to your business.

My guess is there are millions of individual economic impact accounts like yours. People's politics likely do play into whether they complain, I would guess that climate change deniers would not unless they get wiped out.

[Scurrilous]

30. Tomorrow's high in Miami-Dade expected to be 88 degrees.

Last edited Sun Mar 3, 2019, 10:19 PM - Edit history (1)

[Blue_true]

38. It is March now, but I get your point. Early March was still thick jacket time down here.

Now, I can go out in a teeshirt and shorts on the weekend and be ok. I am not sure about how people's bodies are adjusting to this, as a species we undergo permanent biological change over thousands, even millions of years.

[Scurrilous]

39. LOL I've been half asleep since Thursday.

[Blue_true]

40. I actually napped today, that's why I caught you😀

[lunasun]

52. It can eventually kill off as it gets hotter

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/climate/india-heat-wave-summer.html

Indeed, a recent analysis of climate trends in several of South Asia’s biggest cities found that if current warming trends continued, by the end of the century, wet bulb temperatures — a measure of heat and humidity that can indicate the point when the body can no longer cool itself — would be so high that people directly exposed for six hours or more would not survive.

For the country’s National Disaster Management Agency, alarm bells rang after a heat wave struck the normally hot city of Ahmedabad, in western India, in May, 2010, and temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit, or 48 Celsius: It resulted in a 43 percent increase in mortality, compared to the same period in previous years, a study by public health researchers found.

[Blue_true]

53. You defined where we are headed.

The problem will result in lots of poor people dying off, because they can't afford AC bills. The big companies and compliant governments will keep ignoring the warning bells until the fire is raging so bad that nothing survive it.

[lunasun]

54. Yes it will really affect areas with high poverty like South Asia highlighted in the link

From the article

If global greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace, they say, heat and humidity levels could become unbearable, especially for the poor.

It is already making them poorer and sicker.
Like the Kolkata street vendor who squats on his haunches from fatigue and nausea.
Like the woman who sells water to tourists in Delhi and passes out from heatstroke at least once each summer.
Like the women and men with fever and headaches who fill emergency rooms.
Like the outdoor workers who become so weak or so sick that they routinely miss days of work, and their daily wages.

[Blue_true]

55. Throughout history.

The poor have always suffered the consequences of greed and/or mistakes. But this is different, no wealth class will escape this if something is not done soon.

The planet will ultimately become so hot that major forest fires will be daily events. Those fires will send more carbon compounds and ash into the atmosphere to make things worse. At some point, all life on the planet, humans, animals, plants die and the planet becomes dead like Venus, except instead of a boiling sulfurous atmosphere, what was our planet will have one of carbonic acid, but the end result will be the same.

[tavernier]

42. 79 in the Keys.

With a slight breeze. You’re in the wrong part of Florida, sweetie.

[Maru Kitteh]

45. Just checked my phone. -14F here. Fourteen degrees below zero.

If you have anything you need hard-frozen, bring it on by.

Montana, btw, in case anyone is wondering.

[Blue_Tires]

46. You renting out rooms by any chance??

[Blue_true]

47. Sorry, no. But there are plenty of nice homes for purchase or rent down here.

We need more progressives.

[Blue_Tires]

48. Close to baseball spring training?

[Blue_true]

50. Unfortunately, no, that is around 100 miles south of me.

You can do 1 or 2 day trips from my area south though. As a rule, homes in Florida, as everywhere, become more expensive as the population increases.

I was told that years ago, the Red Sox or the White Sox used to do either minor league or major league spring training in my town. I don't know whether it was split squard or what, I could not find that out from the person that told me. Eventually whatever team was here moved farther south.

[csziggy]

49. It was in the low 80s here in Tallahassee yesterday - now it is 56

That's the fun in living in North Florida. If you don't like the weather, just give it another day. It might be different, or at least start to rain.

On the other hand, the paper white narcissus that used to bloom in February bloomed in late December, early January. The dogwoods are putting out leaves, the azaleas are blooming and the grass is starting to grow. Oh - and the bridal wreath spireas are blooming.

[Blue_true]

51. My oldest brother said that we are supposed to get a pop of cold air.

Maybe on Wednesday. He watches the news, I have other stuff going on.

[Ilsa]

57. We've had trees budding for last three weeks, and now a hard freeze.

I think hard freezes in March are a little out of the pattern for the northern half of Georgia.

[Cold War Spook]

58. It is snowing in Eastern NC.

It doesn't matter, except for individuals, what it is doing in one part of the country, it matters what is happening globally.

[Blue_true]

59. I wonder what the break point of CO2 in the atmosphere will be.

CO2 and water vapor are greenhouse gases, some of that effect is healthy because it keeps the Earth's surface from being frozen. But we are at the highest level of CO2 in the atmosphere in Earth's history. Net warming is causing the oceans to warm and they will send up more water vapor in the atmosphere. Some of the water vapor returns as rain and snow.

My guess is there will not be a definitive breaking point, there instead will be slow dying off of vulnerable people and species. There should not be massive dying unless something unanticipated happens, like massive rupturing of the Earth's crust.